A Protector
by redfeatherz
Summary: Patrick Jane accidentally stumbled upon a brutal stabbing. And when the victim's sister starts alternately causing and solving problems, Jane realizes he might've met his match- in a 15-year-old teen. Jisbon, of course. Written after episode 10
1. Well Aren't You Just Little Miss Wackjob

Lisbon

"This is probably one of the most obsolete meetings I've ever attended, and I was a psychic medium," Patrick Jane complained mildly, straightening his vest.

"Stop acting so superior, Jane. You know you're looking forward to this," Teresa Lisbon said, rolling her eyes, and turning to glare at a hummer as it cut her off.

"I'm not acting superior. I _am_ superior. You couldn't survive without me," he retorted, smiling. "That was a red light," he added, turning in his seat to watch a small blue car slow down dramatically.

"It was not. That was yellow," she said, grinning slightly.

"It was red. Did you see that car almost hit us?" Jane argued.

"You're lying. Don't change the subject. I said you're going to this meeting, and you're going to do as you're told. No tricks," she said sternly.

"Tricks? I'm insulted. I don't do 'tricks'. Children's entertainers do tricks. Dogs do tricks. Skateboards do tricks. I do something completely different."

"You know what I mean. You're here to teach others how to do what you do."

"One can't be taught how to be observant. It's not that simple," he said, turning his face away from Lisbon and staring out the window. Lisbon gave him a curious look, but didn't say anything else.

They arrived exactly on time, without a moment to spare. To Lisbon's surprise, Jane rushed out of the car, grabbing her hand and practically dragging her inside. Also a surprise, a balloon of pleasure expanded in her chest. His hand was very soft, but not feminine soft. Just soft, in a happy way.

"Why are we running?" she said as they burst through the doors.

"I saw, some- something," he said between breaths, still yanking her through a throng of confused people who parted reluctantly and with shocked or angry sounds. "Get your gun. Ready to shoot." Just then, he stopped, and pointed to a fleeing figure down a side corridor. "Follow him!" he said, his tone urgent. She didn't even think to be insulted at his demand. There was something in his voice that kept her from questioning what was going on. She nodded, and ran after the figure.

Jane

He let Lisbon run after the man, or woman. The attacker. He'd seen shadows on pulled blinds over a window. A shadow clearly attacking another. Even as he ran down the hall toward the room he'd seen, he was reviewing the assault in his head.

The attacker had been swinging a knife. From what Jane had seen, the man was experienced with knife fighting, while the victim wasn't. The victim had done what any person (a person ignorant of how to defend oneself) would: curled up, covered his or her head, and tried to stagger away.

He slid to a stop outside the room and yanked open the door, once again wondering why he had such an aversion to guns and didn't carry one himself. There was a chance that the runner had been the victim. A small chance, but a chance nonetheless. It only took one mistake.

Inside was a young girl, still loosely in a fetal position on the floor. Jane noticed, with dismay, that there was too much blood on her clothes and on the carpet. He'd been too late. She was dead. His shoulders drooped, and he allowed himself a moment of agony- she looked a lot like his daughter. More so from the blood all over herself.

Clearing his head of his pain, he yanked out his phone and keyed in a number.

"Hello?" Cho answered.

"Hello. It's Jane," he said, making to sit on a chair, but then noticing that it was spattered with blood, like almost everything else in the room.

"Jane? I thought you and Lisbon were at a meeting," Cho replied, confused.

"We're supposed to be. I don't think we're going to go, though," he said gleefully. "Something's come up."

"Oh no. Lisbon was hell-bent on showing everyone that you aren't the loose-cannon, mad genius that they think you are. I told her you wouldn't want to go, but she pretty much said she was going to get you there or die trying."

"She's close. Someone else died instead, and she's chasing the murderer."

"What?? Can't you go anywhere without a crime?" Cho said, a bit amazed.

"Apparently not." Jane's voice rang with a strange sorrow, and his face sagged slightly.

The Next Day…

Jane walked into the office, late as always. It was not a good day to be late.

"Jane! If you're late again, I'll do everything in my power to keep you from fieldwork and in the filing room for so long, you'll forget what the sun looks like!" Lisbon snapped. Jane let out a barely concealed chuckle. Lisbon was obviously stressed out. Her hair was in a messy ponytail, and one shoe was untied. She'd missed a button on her jacket, too.

"Missed a button," he said indifferently, walking past her and picking up the open file on her desk. "Rhea Vann… seventeen years old… we've got her sister in for questioning?" Jane said, flipping through. Lisbon nodded.

"She's very strange. I can't figure her out, so you've got to do better," she said, taking the file and leading him to the interrogation room.

"Azalia Vann, fifteen years old, was very close to Rhea," he said, still reading the file over Lisbon's shoulder.

"Not Azalia. Ah-zue-lee-ah. Azulia," Lisbon corrected him.

"She's very pretty. Doesn't look much like her sister, though," Jane said, peering at the picture. "Strange hair color. Is it dyed?"

"That's what I said. It's natural. I told you she's different, and not just in appearance and name. She looks different face-to-face." They turned the corner to see Rigby, Cho, and Van Pelt standing outside the one-way-window.

"About time you got here. Nobody can get to her. She's pretty unique," Van Pelt said, but Jane wasn't listening. He stepped past them and stared at the girl inside the room, sitting with her hands in her lap and her head down. Her face was curtained with long, straight, auburn-red-gold hair. She was small, but not sickly so. He could see that her arms were whipcord strong, and her hands were small, too, almost childlike.

"Jane? Are you even listening?" Lisbon's voice broke through his daze.

"Yes, of course," he said without missing a beat, turning away from Azulia.

"Oh, for goodness sake," Lisbon said, thrusting Azulia's file into his hands. He flipped it open and read quickly. _Runs cross country, gets straight A's… goes to church, has many friends but no apparent best-friends, gets along well with everyone, reads often... enjoys photography, swimming, and music…_He nodded. She fit her file, at least. Cross country would explain her strength, and the way she was sitting showed that she wasn't a very chatty, peppy person. But if she did run cross country, why was she so pale? She wasn't white-pale, but not tanned at all.

"I guess she's more of a listener than a talker, but she's very good with words. You should've been here when Rigby tried to talk to her- within two minutes, she was the one asking questions and he was answering," Cho said. Rigby made a face at him.

"Because you did _so_ much better," he shot back.

"The point is she's tough. We can't crack her, but you should be able to," Lisbon said, cutting off Cho's retort.

"I think she might be a bit autistic," Van Pelt put in. Jane turned to give her a questioning look.

"'A bit autistic'? What do you mean by that?" he asked. Van Pelt blushed slightly.

"It's just an idea I had," she said defensively. When nobody said anything, she continued. "Well… she hasn't looked anyone right in the eyes yet. She's always looking at the floor, or above their head, or at their mouth. She doesn't give straight answers, and doesn't appear to understand the questions very well. Plus, she just seems to be only half in this world, and half somewhere else."

"Her sister just died," Cho pointed out. "Of course she'd seem distant. She's probably in shock. And if she's a bit autistic, then how is she a straight A student?"

"No, I see her point," Jane mused. "She should be past the shock stage by now. Also, I know an autistic man, and he's a genius."

"We can debate this later. She probably won't get home, and we don't have a right to keep her against her will. She isn't a suspect, is she?" Rigby said.

"At this point, yes. She hasn't told us where she was last night, and we don't have anyone else. I just wish I'd caught the murderer last night, and it could've ended there," Lisbon said.

"If she's a cross country runner, that would explain how she got away so fast, too," Van Pelt added.

"I thought cross country was long-distance," Cho said, "not sprinting."

"No, cross country runners can sprint, too. They do at the start and at the end. My niece runs. It's amazing how fast they can go after three miles. I've seen some of them sprint faster after three miles than others can in a flat-out 100-meter dash," Van Pelt said.

"I'm going in now," Jane said loudly, ending the conversation. He opened the door and slid in. Azulia didn't look up at the loud click the door made.

"Hello. My name is Patrick-," he began.

"Jane, I know," she said. Her voice wasn't high, but it wasn't low, either. She spoke with the usual teenager drawl. He was relieved to find something normal about her.

"Yes. How did you know?" he asked. For the first time, she straightened up and looked at him, disproving Van Pelt's theory. Her eyes were a curious color, like light maple syrup, or dark honey. They almost matched her hair, he noticed, as she brushed it away from her face. Her eyes seemed to glow like molten gold in the dim light. A smattering of freckles crossed the bridge of her nose and spread across her cheekbones.

"They're talking about you right now. Lisbon is being very cynical," Azulia said.

"You can see through the glass?" he asked, surprised and confused. She laughed in a clear alto.

"No, of course not. I was just making an educated guess. I bet they've stopped talking about you and are listening in now," she said with a grin. She waved at the mirror-window. "Rigby mentioned you. And my sister showed me a video online of you once." Her voice grew sorrowful.

"Yes, your sister. Do you know what she was doing at the meeting last night?"

"She wasn't at the meeting. That building isn't just for investigator meetings." Jane blinked at Azulia's bold retort.

"What was she doing there, then?" he tried again.

"She had a date with her boyfriend, Chris. Are you and Lisbon dating?" she said suddenly, her eyes bright with mischief and curiosity.

"No. Where did you get that idea?" Jane said, keeping his surprise out of his words and off his face. "Rigby?"

"A little. I'm good at seeing connections. And reading people's eyes. When I said her name, I was watching your eyes," she admitted, grinning.

"Well, you've made a mistake. Eyes aren't as easy to read."

"No, they aren't. Otherwise you wouldn't need to resort to looking at people's hands and faces and posture, or pretending to hypnotize people, or other tricks." Her grin became more of a smirk.

"Did Lisbon tell you to say that? About tricks?"

"No. Why?"

"I don't do tricks. We had a conversation about that last night." He realized he was way off topic.

"We're off topic, aren't we? You should probably start interrogating," Azulia said.

"I like to get to know who I'm interrogating first," he said in a brilliant save. "But you're right. I should really start." He took a deep breath. Lisbon was right- this girl was going to be tough. Maybe he'd finally met his match.

No, of course not.

**I'd like at least eight reviews before I post the next chapter. Thanks!**


	2. Who's The Detective Here?

**Wow, quick reviewing! Thank you: Wizard-in-Disguise, Wonderfalling, mwalter1, ravenfiremagick, kathiann, langfieldl, Lerrinus, and Cessations.**

**Cessations: I know, I usually feel the same way, but I got the reviews, didn't I? Plus, I usually only get two to five reviews per chapter. This was just a little test to see if I could get it or not. ;) I usually spoil my readers.**

**Alright, on with the story!**

Lisbon

Rigby punched her lightly on the shoulder. "So you and Jane? Is there some secret relationship going on here?"

"No. I don't know what she's talking about. She's clearly insane, or at least partly insane," she said, pretending to not care by not even turning away from the window. But she couldn't help but feel delighted that she had a connection with Jane. _The girl is mad,_ she told herself, trying to damper the feeling.

"There is! That's exactly what you'd say if there was a secret relationship!" Rigby declared triumphantly. Lisbon finally turned to him.

"What would I say if there wasn't one, then?"

"You'd… um…" he trailed off. Van Pelt and Cho laughed. Lisbon allowed herself a proud smirk, then turned back to the scene in the interrogation room. A part of her wondered if Jane was letting Azulia ask questions. But no, that wasn't his style. He would get the information they needed, and maybe find out a bit for his personal search for Red John. _C'mon, Jane,_ she silently willed him. _Work your magic._

Jane

"This all is probably going to sound cliché, and I'm sorry, but they need to be asked and answered. Bear with me, if you will. Where were you and what were you doing last night when the… accident occurred?" Jane asked.

"'Accident'? Was that what this was, just an 'accident'? Was it an 'accident' that someone bloodied a knife with my sister's life? An 'accident' that she died? You don't need to sugarcoat it, Mr. Jane. I think I can handle it," Azulia said, a hint of amusement in her voice and on her face.

"Would you accuse me of being harsh if I'd started out with the unsweetened version?" Jane shot back.

"Of course," Azulia said lightly.

"Good to know. Now if we could get back to my question…" he trailed off, waiting for her to explain.

A full three minutes went by. Both were silent. Jane thought he was waiting for her to collect herself and prepare what she was going to say, but it became clear that she had no intention to talk.

"Are you going to tell me?" he finally asked.

"Yes." The silence started again, but Jane was catching on. It only went for a minute.

"When?"

"Whenever you'd like." Her eyes bored into his, and he suddenly realized what she was waiting for.

"Are you going to tell them, too?" he said slowly, nodding to the mirror-window.

"No."

"Alright. I'll see what I can do," he said, exiting the interrogation room. Van Pelt was nodding off, Rigby and Cho were playing cards, and Lisbon was still standing in front of the mirror-window, looking bored out of her mind.

"What were you doing in there?" she said, exasperated. "Why didn't you question her properly?"

"She's not going to answer with an audience," he explained.

"No. She's… wrong. You're not going to be alone with her. You can pretend we've left," she argued, giving the strange girl a sideways glare.

"She won't fall for it. I don't believe she's going to try anything. We can use the filing room." Lisbon opened her mouth, but he cut her off. "She's not going to get into anything, Lisbon. I'm not blind, as you should know."

"Why not? He'll be fine, Lisbon. I think he can handle a fifteen-year-old girl. And if he gets a busted nose, then no biggie. He could use some respect for others," Rigby added, wandering over. He poked Lisbon with his elbow, acting conspicuously inconspicuous. Lisbon gave him a flat glare, and Jane gave her a small, knowing smile. She didn't smile back.

"Fine. Rigby, get some chairs, and make sure the cabinets are all locked and nothing is lying around," she barked. "Jane, this had better be worth it."

A few minutes later, Jane escorted Azulia to the filing room. "There aren't any secret cameras or microphones," he reassured her, closing the door and sitting down in one of the chairs. She sat down almost gingerly across from him. She'd stared at him in the interrogation room, but now, she didn't blink or glance at anything else. She looked almost frustrated and puzzled.

"So, I believe you owe me a few answers?" he began.

"I don't owe you anything," she snapped suddenly, a strangely large amount of venom in her voice. "But I'm going to tell you anyway."

"Thank you," Jane said with a warm smile. She hadn't blinked yet. He wondered if it was a sort of disorder that gave a person extra-wet eyes, and they didn't need to blink much, or if she was really that intense.

"At about five, my sister announced that she needed to run a few errands, then go meet Chris. She said she was going to the bank, to the gas station, to the library, and then to the building where your CBI meeting was being held. She left at around five thirty, give or take ten minutes. I stayed home, listening to music, chatting online, reading a book…"

"All at the same time?" Jane said, appearing to be joking, but actually interested.

"Yes. Why?"

"Your file said you were an avid reader."

"Oh, yes. My file. Anyway, I got bored with that. Watched some TV. At six-forty-five-ish, I went back up to my room." She paused.

"And?" Jane prodded. To his surprise, she blushed slightly, then straitened in her chair.

"And I wrote for an hour," she declared, her back straight. He made a mental note of that, and didn't ask about it.

"So that would be about seven forty-five. Your sister was stabbed at seven fourteen." He scrutinized her, but there was no hint of guilt or deception in her stance or in her eyes.

"What kind of a person was Chris?"

"Not the murderer kind. He was very nice. He ate a lot, and drove like a maniac, but he was good-looking, and made an excellent boyfriend for my sister. He was always giving her little gifts, taking her places, doing fun things with her. He even got mom, dad, and I each a Christmas present along with Rhea's."

"Is there anyone who would've had the incentive to kill Rhea?"

"Not that I know of. Well, there was Scotty. And Eliza."  
"Tell me about them, please."

"Scotty liked Rhea about the same time Chris did. It was before they started dating. About a year ago. She liked them both, but liked Chris better. I think she made the right decision. Scotty was upset, and he tried to flirt with me. I heard that he wanted to go out with me so he could get inside, you know? Break up Rhea and Chris. I realized he was an idiot, though. The dating-the-sister-then-breaking-up-the-couple-then-dating-the-girl thing only works in soaps," she said, sneering a bit.

"What about Eliza?"

"She was Rhea's best friend all through elementary and middle school. But when the whole dating thing got popular, Rhea had a ton of guys. All of the guys Eliza liked. I think it was because we always were hanging out with the guys, and they knew Rhea. Eliza got pretty nasty. Stuck some rude notes in Rhea's locker, tried to spread rumors, and gossiped about all the secrets Rhea had told her when they were younger. The whole nine yards. But she seems nicer now. She and Rhea actually talked a bit."

"Thank you for telling me all this," Jane said, starting to get up.

"Are we done?" Azulia asked. Jane nodded and started for the door. "Wait." He suppressed a sigh. He'd seen the internal argument as she'd talked, and saw her settle on a decision, determined to follow through.

"Yes?" he said, turning around. She hesitated.

"I'm really not sure how to put this… This is just as new for me as it is for you." She let out a short, bitter laugh. "You'd think I'd be miserable right now. My sister, my best friend just died. Gone, just like that," she said sadly, snapping her fingers to reinforce her words. "But I'm not."

"It could be shock, or denial," Jane suggested, sitting down again. She shook her head, just as he knew she would.

"No. I… I think I know why. I've got to put that away. I can mourn later. I've got things that need to be done." Her voice grew far away, and once again, her eyes locked on his, the frustrated, puzzled glow back.

"What things?" Jane whispered, leaning forward intently, his elbows on his knees.

"I'm not sure why, or how, but…" she trailed off, her brow furrowing as she struggled to put her feelings into words. He was silent, allowing her to drag the needed words out.

"I feel like I need to protect you." There it was. He leaned back, confused, staring at her with new eyes. "Whenever I look at you, I feel like you're vulnerable. Like something is going to happen. Something bad. I don't know what, or when, why, how, but I just… know." Her voice lowered until he had to strain to hear it. When she finished, he stood up, shaking his head and smiling.

"You're feeling loss right now, and you're trying to fill in the hole by finding something else to put in its place. You're just reaching out now. I'll try to help you through this. But I certainly don't need protecting. What are you going to do, be a bodyguard? I work with CBI agents, trained to shoot, defend, and save lives in an instant. I think I'm pretty well covered," he said.

"No, you don't understand! I'm not reaching. You are. You just don't know it yet," she said, almost pleading. He took pity on her.

"Well, you can hang around for a while. According to your file, your parents aren't home much. They're travelling missionaries, correct?" he said. She nodded. "Then I'm sure Van Pelt will allow you to stay with her. She's very kind, compassionate, and understanding. You'll-,"

"No, that won't work," Azulia said, cutting him off. "I said I'm protecting you. I'm going to stay with you. I assume you've got a spare bedroom or something?"

Jane's face hardened. "You aren't staying with me," he said, suddenly sharp. "I don't have a spare bedroom."

"Couch, then?"

"No." His voice was so icy that she didn't continue. He opened the door for her, and she walked out and down the hall to the other waiting agents. As soon as she was past him, he closed his eyes and let out a slow breath, sliding a bit down the door frame.

He couldn't bear to think of her in his house. His personal jail that he locked himself in, torturing himself every morning and every night with the smiling red face on his wall. Lisbon and the others wondered why they so often found him asleep on the couch. He knew that if they found out about what he was sleeping beneath, they would never wonder again.

**Hopefully more Jisbon in the next chapter. No guarantees, though. I'm just the vessel for the story- it's going through me, not from me. I don't know what I'll spew out next.**

**By the way- Happy New Year! –blows noisemaker- I spent my first minutes of 2009 singing along to the band Unspoken as they played at Countdown Bash 08-09, at the church. Chad did some really extraordinary preaching, too. And no, I'm not trying to force religion on you. I'm just blabbing about what I did for the first minute of 2009.**

**For those of you who don't know what to put in reviews, here's something- What did you do for the first minutes of 2009?**

**-Sam Hazel-**


	3. Explanations? Maybe Not

**Thanks to: Wizard-in-Disguise, piratejester, Horsegrad13, mwalter1, GSRFanatic123, langfieldl, and tpel.**

**piratejester- no, she isn't. She seems like it, though. She's just very strange. This chapter actually has some of her thoughts in it, so you'll find out why and how she's so observative, and is 'good at seeing connections'.**

**tpel- I'm trying to work on that. I have a habit of fixing an idea of someone's personality early, and though I tend to make a good assumption, sometimes I get things wrong. When I think of Rigby, I imagine a joking, sometimes-clever, teasing oaf (that's not the right word I'm looking for, but it's late where I am, and I'm not going to spend forever trying to think of it). I didn't think he was that close to Lisbon, either, but that he was just leaping on the opportunity to taunt her a bit. I have a hard time remembering that Lisbon is the boss. I see her as more of a leader that is close to her team, not 'The Boss'. **

**And, as promised, a bit of Jisbon. It's just stuck in there right now- It'll get better. I'm still establishing the plot, introducing characters.**

**It's a little lusty, so look out.**

Azulia

Azulia walked down the hall to the other agents, who were loitering in the kitchen. She struggled to keep her pace slow and even, to keep her face calm and aloof. They thought she was weird already- she didn't need to show them exactly how unique she really was.

Every muscle was taunt and restless. She could feel one twitching between her ribs, annoying her. It was hard not to sprint down the hall and crash through the nearest exit, regardless if it was a fire exit or three stories up. She felt that if she ran far enough, then maybe the invisible ties would break.

She created them from watching people's eyes, and created tastes, smells, and textures for them in her mind to help her remember them and clarify them. She could imagine them, like a mass of spider webs stretched through the air.

She could taste something akin to chili powder reaching from Rigby to Van Pelt. He had a schoolboy crush on her, hot and bitter with confusion. Van Pelt's line was thinner, harder to taste. Hers was like the back of a stamp- bittersweet, sticky, and lingering. She didn't know what to do about Rigby's feelings.

Then there was Lisbon and Jane, more like coffee beans. It was fresh, new, fragrant, but at the same time, tinged with unease. Jane was still sore from something she couldn't quite detect, and Lisbon was constantly switching between being completely hot for him to wishing she could nail his mouth shut.

There were the friendship lines, of course. She was relieved to taste all good things- bubblegum, showing a friendly, light connection; grass, fresh, pure, and undiluted; and a bit of metal from Jane and Lisbon, both cold and strong. She focused on Cho and Rigby's friendship- they were very tight, friendly, and humorous. It helped lighten her own emotions.

"Where's Jane?" Lisbon asked as she approached. Azulia turned around, puzzled to see him back-to, closing the door.

"Oh. I thought he was right behind me," she said as he turned around and finally followed. As he was turning, she caught something in his eye. Sorrow? Pain? She wasn't sure, but she adjusted her mental assumption of him, adding a hint of black frosting, lingering and painful.

"Could you guys get her situated? Find out what she'd like to do?" Jane said to Rigby, Van Pelt, and Cho. They nodded, and led Azulia off. She glanced back at Jane and Lisbon, giving Jane a knowing smile and a wink.

Lisbon

She didn't turn to watch the others escort Azulia away. She was staring at Jane, wishing she could read people as easily as he could. As usual, his face was dapper, cheerful, but she could see a slight crinkle around his eyes.

"How did it go?" she asked hesitantly, almost afraid of the answer.

"Hm? Oh, it went well," Jane replied, distracted.

"So…" she prodded.

"Apparently, Rhea was going on some errands before she met her boyfriend, Chris. Bank, gas station, library, then to meet Chris at the building where she was later killed."

"Is Chris high on our suspect list?"

"No. He was a very kind boyfriend, according to Azulia. He was always doing things for Rhea. Not just Rhea, too. She gave her entire family Christmas gifts, and was kind to everyone."

"Well, that's no help, then. Did she mention anyone else?" Lisbon said hopefully.

"I asked her if there was anyone who would have a motive to kill Rhea. Scotty, a disgruntled boy who wanted Rhea to go out with him, but she picked Chris instead. And Eliza, an ex-best friend, jealous of Rhea's boy attention, spread rumors, bad notes, and gossiped. 'The whole nine yards', I believe, is what Azulia said. She also said Eliza was getting along better with Rhea," Jane explained.

"Good. She's given us a few leads, at least. We'll search her locker, her room, and her car, of course. Probably ask Azulia a few more questions," she said, curling her lip.

"You don't like her," Jane said. It was more of a statement.

"No."

"Why not?"

Lisbon snorted. "Do _you_ like her?"

"To be completely honest, I'm not sure. I started to," Jane said thoughtfully.

"'_Started _to'? What happened?" Lisbon frowned at her shoes, realizing something. "Wait, you didn't say she said anything she wanted private. Why did she want a private room, then let you tell me everything she said?" She jerked her head up, narrowing her eyes. "Or did you leave something out?"

"If I did, it wasn't relevant to the investigation. I wouldn't do that," he said cryptically.

"Yes, you would!" she accused. "You have before."

"Well, I didn't this time. I told you everything you need to know."

"What about what I _want_ to know?"

"People don't always get what they want," Jane said smugly, though there was a trace of sadness in his eyes. He walked over to the refrigerator and began rummaging through it.

"Will you tell me anything about what she said?" Lisbon asked, following him.

"No." His voice was slightly muffled. He pulled out a package of bologna, cheese, and mayo.

"Is it-," she started.

"No, it's not about Red John," he said curtly, beginning to make a sandwich. "Want one?"

"No thanks. Are you sure you won't-"

"Teresa Lisbon," Jane said slowly and clearly, turning to face her.

She was surprised at how close they were. His face was mere inches from her, and she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to close that distance. _Shut up,_ she silently told her feminine side.

"What occurred in that room that wasn't investigation information is between Azulia and I. I am _not_ going to tell you what it was about, despite the fact that you will likely find out eventually. It isn't my secret to share." He spoke quietly and seriously, his eyes glittering. _Please, leave it be,_ they said.

She could feel her own heart beating in her stomach and in her fingers as the female inside her took over.

Third Person (Omniscient)

Jane stared through Lisbon's eyes, into her mind, blood, and soul. He wanted her to hear what he was saying, understand it clearly.

Observative as always, he saw Lisbon's pupils shrink to pinpoints. There was something vaguely familiar about the way she looked at him. He'd seen it before, but it had been long dead and forgotten. He was about to put a name to it when-

"What occurs in this room that isn't investigation information is between Lisbon and Jane," she breathed, then took a half-step toward him, only as much as the space between them would allow. She pressed her lips to his, in a moment of mindless estrogen rush.

Jane almost pulled away in surprise. Her hands were resting lightly on his chest, and he was conscious of her entire body pushed up against his. He was confused. What was this? She was his boss. His boss! What about his wife? Would she want him to move on?

Maybe. Maybe she would've wanted him to be happy. He knew that's what he would want if their positions were reversed. Slowly, he began to kiss her back, pulling away from her for a moment to rest his chin on her shoulder, still slightly puzzled.

He saw Azulia in the other room, smiling at him and giving him a thumbs-up. Azulia watched him give her a small, hesitant smile, then resume kissing Lisbon, allowing her to back him into the bar.

Lisbon kissed him for a few minutes before she was able to shove her woman feelings down and backed away a step or two.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, not sure what she was sorry for. Kissing him? Or ending it?

"For what?" he whispered back, eyes glowing. She opened her mouth to answer, though what she was going to say was still a mystery, when Cho, Rigby, and Van Pelt came in, Azulia trailing behind. She looked at Lisbon and Jane, and stifled a giggle. Lisbon frowned at her.

Lisbon

"Azulia is going to stay with me," Van Pelt said. "Her parents are away, and I don't like the thought of her staying alone after everything she's been through lately." She smiled kindly at Azulia. Lisbon could tell she wanted to be there for Azulia. She was such a compassionate person- maybe some of it would rub off on the cunning, sharp teen.

"Good idea," she said, straightening her shirt. She had to stop herself from glancing at Jane- somehow, she knew he would be wearing that smug little grin of his. "We'll get everything set up tomorrow. We're going to be doing all the field work- searching her room, her locker, her car. Interrogations will be next, but I doubt we'll have time."

"Great," Rigby groaned. "Paperwork."

**That's all for now. Sorry it's so short. I've got a good idea for a random twist tomorrow.**

**-Sam Hazel, The Unluckiest Girl In The World Because The Guy She Likes Has A Weird Best Friend Who Likes Her And Since The Guy She Likes Is Such A Nice Person, He Won't Ask Her Out Even Though He Likes Her Back So His Weird Best Friend Can Have Her-**

**:P**


	4. Mr Jane's Got Issues

**Alright, I'm going to be posting a bit less. I can't believe I actually posted so many chapters so quickly. I'm slowing down- I've got school, so I'm going to need more time to write the posts. I've got the next one almost done, and I'll post that when the one after that is done. Probably Thursday or Friday. Maybe Wednesday, if there are a lot of reviews.**

_**IMPORTANT**_**: This story takes place after the 10****th**** episode. Whatever happens in further shows will not affect the story, plot, or characters.**

**Thanks to: CSI-M, piratejester, langfieldl, Lerrinus, bulletproofweeks, Collier World, and Auraya-of-the-White.**

**Special thanks to piratejester. I just realized that wasn't a word!! XP I feel like a complete idiot now… I thought I just kept spelling it wrong, because spell check kept showing that it was wrong. I just gave up on trying to fix it, hoping nobody would notice, and if someone did, they'd know what I meant.**

**Now, story time!**

The Next Day

Lisbon stared at the papers in dismay. Warrants. Permission slips. Insurance information. Everything that needed to be done before they could get to any of the fun stuff. She knew it wasn't going to be a good day from the start.

Jane had come in later than usual, and was oddly detached, without any of his usual spirit and humor. He was slightly drawn, too, his face a bit pale, cheeks flushed, and his eyes looked more tired than ever. Rigby and Cho had noticed, and were trying to get him to tell them what was wrong. Lisbon was worried it was what happened yesterday. The kiss.

The only good thing that had happened was from Van Pelt and Azulia. Van Pelt said they talked some, and she was getting a bit friendlier. Azulia was at the office, listening to her iPod on the couch. Lisbon wasn't sure what exactly changed, but she didn't seem as strange and abnormal. When she glanced over at her, she didn't see a unique-to-the-point-of-being-disturbing girl. She saw a young teen, sprawled out on the couch, listening to music.

"Did she voodoo you?" Rigby was saying to Jane.

"No." Even his voice seemed off, with less perfect articulation and emotion.

"I bet she told him something really weird, and he's still in shock," Cho guessed. Lisbon tried to tune them out and focus on nothing. That usually made time go by faster. After a few minutes, they gave up. It was quiet save for the scratching of pens, shuffling of papers, and the faint sound of Azulia's iPod pumping music in her ears. It was comforting, that the girl was average enough to listen to her music too loud, just like any other teenager.

An hour later, Jane put his pen down on his unfinished paper. In the silence, the faint click against the table seemed loud. Lisbon looked up, ready to tell him to get back here and help. He was probably 'going to get coffee' for all of them, and wouldn't show up until they were done.

As soon as she looked up, she knew something was wrong. His face was ashen- his lips and eyes seeming very red in comparison.

"Jane?" she said questioningly. "Are you okay?"

Jane shook his head mutely. He stood up stiffly and quickly walked around the corner. She heard a door open, and got up to follow him, the others trailing behind curiously. She realized Azulia's music had stopped.

"Jane, what are you-," she stopped as she rounded the corner.

"Oh. Aw, man," Rigby said. Van Pelt grimaced, and Cho frowned sympathetically. Jane was leaned over the toilet, coughing up the contents of his stomach. Van Pelt went back to the kitchen, and Lisbon heard the sound of water running. _Washing her hands,_ she realized, remembering in her application she'd said she was a bit squeamish when it came to vomiting.

"Sick?" Azulia said, appearing around the corner. Lisbon nodded, and the girl made a face. "That sucks." Jane finally stopped heaving, and rested his head on his arms wearily. Lisbon walked in, moving in front of his turned head.

"Hey. Are you okay?" she said gently. He let out a weak laugh.

"I'm great. Marvelous. Fantastic. Superb," he rasped, looking vaguely embarrassed.

"Do you… um… want me to drive you home?" she asked. He opened his mouth to say yes, but paused, appearing to reconsider. After a moment, apparently realizing he didn't really have any other options, he nodded.

"Yes, please." He staggered to his feet, and Azulia was suddenly there, pulling his arm over her shoulders and helping him up. She whispered something inaudible in his ear. He gave her a small smirk. Lisbon walked them to her car, slightly nervous that he would get sick again, but he didn't. She noticed him swallow convulsively a few times, but that was all.

Azulia

Azulia noticed him struggle to get up on rubbery legs, and strode quickly to his side, helping him.

Standing up on her toes, she whispered, "You _would_ go and get sick. How am I supposed to protect you, Mr. Jane, when you're hurting from something I can't fix?" He smirked slightly, his pride showing through his sick pallor for an instant.

She helped Lisbon get him to the car, noting her big, fancy SUV. She was obviously proud of it- it was one of those cars that everyone saw, respected, and obeyed. It was hard not to climb into the backseat and go with them. She was very curious about Jane's house, and why he'd locked down when she said she wanted to stay with him.

Instead, she simply went back into the building and waved.

Jane

Jane. Felt. _Horrible._

Firstly, the obvious one- he was sick. He'd woken up with a queasy stomach, but that happened often. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary- he was pretty sure it was from not getting enough sleep. His body still wanted to sleep, and his digestive system was still in 'sleep mode'. So, as usual, he dismissed it and forced himself to eat a bagel.

But then, instead of slowly getting better like it normally did, it got worse. Paperwork never went fast for him anyway, but his stomach made it nearly intolerable, not to mention the fact that he felt very hot. Finally, it reached a climax. He knew it: he was _sick._ Good thing the bathroom was so close.

Second, there was the kiss. Lisbon hadn't said anything about it, and neither had he. They both pretended they didn't have enough alone time to talk about it. It didn't help that he'd probably given Lisbon what he had, unless it was just food poisoning.

Next was the case. Ever since he'd joined Lisbon's team, they'd been solving twice the amount of cases, and it wasn't because of his paperwork skills. It was the fieldwork, and if he wasn't better when they started investigating, he'd feel like he'd let the team down. He felt the least he could do for Rhea, since he hadn't gotten there fast enough, was to find her killer.

Then there was Azulia herself. He was glad she hadn't come with them in the car- as is, he was nervous enough about what Lisbon would see or think. He didn't even want to think about her strange infatuation with protecting him. If he was truly honest with himself, he was scared. Scared of why she felt that way. Scared of what he would need protecting from. Scared of the fact that she might actually be doing something with the _other side_,and he was wrong, that there really was a god and things after life.

As Lisbon drove, he was glad she was such a good driver. They didn't talk- he simply rested his head against the window. It felt pleasantly cool on his burning face. She found his house without trouble, and he dragged himself to his feet, crossing to the door and unlocking it. Lisbon followed him inside, just as he knew she would and wished she wouldn't.

Lisbon

Lisbon followed Jane inside, telling herself it was because she was worried about him, but it was partly because she was curious. Every time his house was mentioned, he froze up, becoming icy and sharp. Cho had commented on it to her, once. He joked that Jane probably had a bunch of speed or other illicit drug hidden in his house, something that helped him be so observant and perfect. She'd laughed, but for all she knew, he could be right.

She didn't see any strange white powders lying around, or pills, other than a small, orange bottle of sleeping pills. However, she did notice a red jacket hanging on a hook near the door. A woman's jacket. Did he have a cleaning lady? She listened, but didn't hear anyone else.

Then she saw a children's book lying on the coffee table. Jane certainly hadn't been reading children's books. As she mulled it over, she started to notice other things. A bottle of nail polish on the end of the counter. A young girl's boots sitting just inside the door. Homey decorations that certainly hadn't been picked out by Jane.

When she glanced at the fridge, it suddenly made sense. _Oh,_ she thought, _how could I be so stupid? Of course…_ On the fridge was a picture of Jane holding a young girl, who was giving him a hug and one of those clumsy, six-year-old kisses. Beside it was another picture, this time of Jane standing with a beautiful woman who looked quite a bit like the young girl. She had her arm around his waist, and his was around her shoulders.

There were others, featuring Jane, the girl, and the woman doing different things. A birthday party. Swimming somewhere tropical. Skiing. With a jolt of horror and pity, Lisbon understood.

He was still in agony. He hadn't even been able to pick up their things and put them away. She imagined makeup scattered over a sink in front of a mirror, maybe a couple of stuffed animals in random places in the house, a small pile of folded outfits waiting to be hung up.

_Poor Jane._

**Sorry about the randomness- I wanted Lisbon to see the inside of Jane's house somehow, and this seemed like the best way. Next chapter starts the investigation (and not just of Rhea's stuff- someone might let some things slip.)**

**And now, of course, random stuff that the author writes that she just has to get out! If you don't want to read this, then you don't have to. Anyone watch House? I was watching it last night, and there was a 16-year-old having night terrors and I freaked out! I've had night terrors since I was 6, but I'm pretty sure my brain isn't messed up in a way that's causing it. It usually happens when I get overheated. Other than that, I was completely relating to the guy in it. According to my parents, a night terror is when one has a horrible nightmare, and is conscious through the entire thing. They'll sleepwalk, cry, scream, run around… after, they don't remember any of it. I only remember being really, really scared.**

**But, whatever. Please, click that magnificent green button and gimmie a review!**


	5. Pity Party

**Fun fact: It's perfectly plausible for something to simply vanish. Atoms disappear and reappear, so something could suddenly disappear, and appear in a different world or dimension. Now you know where all those missing socks, CD's, headphones, and other things go. Remember that the next time someone accuses you of loosing something.**

**-Something I've learned from a truly excellent book, '**Physics of the Impossible**', by Michio Kaku. Check it out sometime.**

**That episode was sooo awesome!! Poor Jane… we all love him. We also love doing bad things to him. ;D You know you enjoy it. I was so sure something was going to happen between him and Lisbon this time. Aww, it didn't. That sucks.**

**Thanks to: Cessations, Wonderfalling, GSRFanatic123, Baka Peachie, piratejester, CSI-MM, and Reviewing-My-Anti-Drug.**

**Thanks to everyone for being so understanding about school being first priority! I got so many nice, long reviews, I'm posting this a day earlier than I'd planned. I've already got the next chapter done, and the one after that started. This is going to be a looong fic- I've got a to-do list for it, and it's taking longer than I'd thought to get to the stuff on it.**

**Quote of the day: Ending a story is like taking a child out in the backyard and shooting it. –Unknown**

Lisbon

Lisbon stood, frozen, staring at the fridge in shock. The sound of Jane slumping onto his couch broke her out of her reprieve. She turned to face him.

"Would you like me to stay?" she asked, hoping he was feeling too bad to notice her discomfort, then felt bad about hoping he wasn't feeling well. He shook his head. "Are you sure?" He opened one eye to give her a flat stare.

"Lisbon, I'm not a child. I can take care of myself," he said, sounding a bit better already. She nodded. "I'll be there tomorrow, better and everything. Make sure Azulia doesn't do anything weird."

Lisbon headed out the door, wondering how Jane could stay in such a haunted, desolate place. His sleeping problems were suddenly clear- she couldn't even imagine closing her eyes there.

"By the way, I hope I didn't get you sick," he called after her just before the door closed. She wondered if he meant he would've gotten her sick from her being around him so much, or if it was from the kiss. Nevertheless, she hurried back to her car, feeling as if there was a cold wind blowing from his ghastly house.

She drove back to the office quickly, told everyone Jane got home fine and said he would be back by tomorrow, and got back to the paperwork. Azulia gave her another one of her horrible, knowing looks, though this time, it was laced with an intense, piercing curiosity.

Jane

He let his body sag into the cushions on his couch. _Oh no,_ he thought. _She definitely noticed._

The Next Day

Third Person (Omniscient)

As he'd said, he was back the next day, looking tired but much better. Yesterday, when they were finished the papers, Rigby had started to make himself a sandwich.

"Who's been in my sandwich stuff?" he'd said, glaring at them each accusingly. Then he'd glanced down at the package of cheese, and let out a short, surprised laugh.

"What?" Cho said curiously. Rigby shook his head.

"I know who it was. See," he'd held up the package half gleefully and half guiltily, "it's outdated. _Really_ outdated." Cho had smacked him, and Van Pelt was relieved and felt bad about it. Lisbon had also been quietly relieved. Just food poisoning. He hadn't given her anything, and he was sure to be back soon enough.

Lisbon led Jane and Azulia into the school, wondering why she'd decided to go in when there were still probably students around. They'd already searched Rhea's car, and found nothing except for a handful of folded papers, each of them with one rude sentence on them.

_You're a bitch, and everyone knows it,_ said one.

_Stop being such a slut,_ another said.

_You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?_

_It's only because they think you're easy._ There were a few more with things like that on them.

"They're from Eliza. About a year old," Azulia explained. She was excited to go into the school- she hadn't gone since Rhea had died, and she wanted to see her friends. According to her, there were likely a lot of students still there. There was a big basketball game after school.

As they approached the school, Jane noticed Azulia practically change before his eyes. He understood why she had so many friends and got along well with everyone at school. It was almost as if she shed her strangeness. No, that wasn't right. She was covering it up.

Her stance became more relaxed, lazy, and careless, just like any other teenager. Her eyes were less intense, not so piercing. He noticed a small bit of fading acne on her forehead, and her smile wasn't so entrancing. She looked less like a calculating, wild feline. It was as if she'd dulled her sharpness, becoming more like a clumsy, less confident, mood-swinging high school student.

When Lisbon hesitated just inside the doors, she nodded to one of the halls.

"The office is this way. You'll need to check in with Mr. Lee, and he'll probably ask you to make sure your weapons, badges, and other agent things aren't so obvious. He doesn't want rumors spreading, and he's in on most of the gossip," she explained, obviously happy with her principal. Jane smiled. This was the perfect time to really get to know her, to find out more about her.

Lisbon led the way to the office. A tall, lanky man that reminded Lisbon of an old, retired lion sauntered out to greet them.

"Hey there, you must be Agent Lisbon and Mr. Jane." Lisbon's smile widened. _I like that. _Agent_ Lisbon and _Mr._ Jane,_ she thought. "I'm Jay Lee," he said, shaking their hands.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Lee," she said.

"Please, call me Jay," he said. "I've never been one for formalities. I'm as much of a student as anyone else in this school. Azulia!" he cried, noticing her standing inconspicuously behind Jane and Lisbon. "We've been worried about you. As you asked, we kept your sister's unfortunate accident from the other students."

"Thank you so much," Azulia said with real gratitude in her voice.

Jane was intrigued. _She asked to keep Rhea's death quiet?_ Another bit of proof that she was smart, and caught on quickly. If she kept it a secret, then they would know it was a student who killed her if, suddenly, it was part of the school's gossip. Also, she hadn't jumped on her principal for calling Rhea's death an accident. It showed that she respected him, and had already figured him out.

"Now, you need to search Rhea's locker, right?" Jay broke into his thoughts.

"Yes, thank you. Do you have a master key?" Jane said.

"Yup. It's a good think we've got extra copies- someone misplaced our old one," Jay said, beaconing them down the hall. Lisbon noticed Jane's eyes flickering around, absorbing their surroundings quickly. She felt more confident with him backing her up- it was good that he'd gotten better so quickly.

Jane

"We might want to talk to Mrs. Fox, while we're here. She was Rhea's favorite teacher. They were quite close. She teaches French. She's good at what she does- its fun and I learn a lot. Rhea was in French III, and I'm in French II," Azulia said quietly to Jane as they walked down the hall. He nodded, about to say something but he was interrupted.

"Hey! Azzy!" The group stopped, and turned around. Azulia was already smiling. Two boys were walk-jogging toward her. One had sandy hair, bright eyes, and an average face. Jane noticed he was quite strong, and he was wearing a basketball uniform. The second boy had dark brown, almost black hair with larger eyes, but he was noticeably less fit.

"Logan! Tyler!" she exclaimed. The sandy-haired one, Logan, gave her a hug, prompting Tyler to blush slightly and laugh silently.

"Where have you been? Everyone's worried about you, and nobody knew what was going on. Rhea and Chris weren't here to ask, either," Logan said, glancing curiously at Jane, Lisbon, and Jay. Jane smiled back, chipper, of course, but his eyes were still in examination mode. They flashed from Logan to Azulia to Tyler. Azulia's face grew somber.

"Um…" For the first time since Jane had met her, she seemed lost for words. Her eyes darkened, and he saw her becoming closed and protective again, like when he'd first seen her in the interrogation room. She wasn't looking at people's eyes- instead, staring at the floor.

"Azulia? What's wrong?" Logan asked with concern, noticing her change. Jane noted that it seemed like it wasn't the first time Logan had seen her lock down.

"It's… complicated. Can we talk alone?" she said to Tyler, Jane, Lisbon, and Jay. They agreed, Jane watching her walk off with Logan, surprised to feel slightly worried about her. Tyler shrugged.

"I'm not that close to her. I'm Logan's friend," he said, smiling nervously. "I'm Tyler."

"Patrick Jane," Jane said, shaking his hand, noticing that his palms were very sweaty. "This is Agent Lisbon." Tyler's smile became confused as he took in the 'Agent' part.

"Um… nice to meet you."

"How close are Azulia and Logan?" Jane asked casually, inspecting some posters about cell parts on the wall. He scanned through the names, noting the hastily prepared, unimpressive one with clumsy handwriting. The name in the corner said 'Scotty Kent'. The others were neatly typed, using bright colors and careful arrangement. The best, clearest one said 'Eliza Jones'.

"Pretty close. They dated," he said, obviously delighted to have the chance to spread some gossip.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. I don't think it was going very well. He didn't talk to her, or call her, or anything. He invited her to some open gym thing, but she went and he didn't show up. She broke up with him." He was relaxing, more comfortable to be talking about normal school things.

"Is she very popular? Get along well with others?" Jane continued, intently examining Scotty's handwriting.

"Well, yeah. I don't know anyone who hates her. She's really smart, too, so everyone usually wants her if we ever work in partners. And she's pretty." He blushed again.

"What about her sister?"

"I don't really know her sister." He finally seemed to pluck up the courage to ask, "Um, why? Is there an investigation or something going on here? What happened?"

"I'm not an agent," Jane said soothingly. "I'm just a curious person." He noticed a rubber band at his feet, and picked it up, smiling like a child with a toy. "Watch." He wound the rubber band around his hands and fingers, and showed it to Tyler.

Then, right in front of Tyler's nose, it simply vanished. He blinked, surprised, then looked around.

"Did you shoot it?" he asked, scanning the floor.

"No. Look." He opened his other hand, showing him the rubber band. Tyler grinned.

"How'd you do that?" Jane simply smiled, eyes glittering with amusement.

"Magic," he said, closing it into his fist, turning his fist so the back of his hand was facing up, then turned it around again, showing him an empty hand.

Azulia

Just then, Azulia and Logan came back around the corner, neither of them talking. Jane met Azulia's eyes for a brief moment. When she saw pity in them, her gaze hardened, becoming cold and angry.

She couldn't stand people mooning over her, pitying her and feeling bad. Even when she was sick, or injured, she'd always kept her mouth shut and let nobody know. Once, she'd run the States cross country meet with pneumonia. Her coach knew she had a bit of a cold, but Azulia had made her own self-diagnosis a week earlier. She hadn't eased up on practices at all. It wasn't until after the meet that she admitted that she should probably see a doctor.

In eighth grade, she'd severely twisted her hip in soccer when she was practicing chipping it, and proceeded to try and finish the practice. Her coach had noticed her limping. During the next day's game, she'd helped her coach forget that she was injured, and played most of the game before the coach had remembered.

She could take the pain. She stand pure, raw agony. She could listen to someone yell at her for hours. She could calmly ask someone for a bandaid after she'd accidentally sunk a knife into her thigh.

The only time she would flinch was when someone looked at her with pity.

**Mkay, introducing a few new characters! I'll explain the rubber band trick later. And, just for the record, I actually did all that. I ran the States meet with pneumonia, and got one of my best times. Mom chewed me out for it. And I did do something to my hip in 8****th**** grade, and kept playing anyway. After the game the next day, I had to go to the chiropractor, and had appointments with him for every other day after for a week until it was better-ish. I missed another two weeks of soccer.**

**I've got a good friend named Logan, and he has a friend named Tyler. I know a Scotty, and an Eliza. **

**A lot of the characters are based off actual people I know. Our principal is very close to all the students, and he always knows what's going on. There is a boy named Logan who I dated for a little while, and now we're just close friends. Tyler loves to gossip, and no, he isn't gay. He's just annoying. Scotty was a boy who hit on me, and someone told me he just wanted to date my sister. My sister's boyfriend's name is Chris. My sister doesn't have an ex-best friend named Eliza, though. She does have one who was a best friend but is now simply a friend.**

**Yeah, I'm weird like that.**

**TO MY SISTER, who is probably reading this: please stop reading my stuff, and I might delete that picture of you and Dad. So there. XP**

**To my readers:**** I'm so proud of you all! I can actually watch the reviews go up! :D Thank you all so much!! Keep reading, and keep reviewing!!**

**-Sam Hazel, The Girl With Big Dreams For Her Future Because She Is The Only One In Her Biology Class Who Can Answer Questions Before The Teacher Has Taught The Topic The Questions Are About-**


	6. Fire and Ice

_Some say the world will end in fire_

_Some say in ice_

_From what I've tasted of desire_

_I hold with those who favor fire_

_But if I had to perish twice_

_I think I know enough of hate_

_To say that for descruction ice_

_Is also great_

_And would suffice_

-Robert Frost

**Guess who is fire? Who is ice?**

I've gotta admit it, I'm a bit disappointed at how few reviews I got. A whopping four. I don't want to be that writer who puts 'insert-number-here reviews before I update' in every time. You've been good and loyal so far, and I understand how it gets hard to type long reviews after you've already given the writer one or two long ones. So I'm fine with shortish ones. Give me your opinions, ideas, predictions and what you would put next.

On the good side, I've got chapters 7, 8, and almost 9 done. Sorry about the lack of Jisbon so far- I'm editing 8 to try and put some in.

Thanks to: Wonderfalling, GSRFanatic123, langfieldl, and piratejester.

Piratejester- I know, I put that in there as a bit of irony. Sure, he'll see a miniscule detail that proves a murder case, but he didn't notice that the cheese was expired. XD Oh, Jane… He was a bit absorbed at the moment, too. Lisbon, you silly rabbit, tricks are for kids!

Wonderfalling- I don't think of myself as a Bio geek, actually. Don't get me wrong, I'm not offended, I'm actually a bit flattered. I just take in science information too easily. I can't help it. I don't study at all, either- it usually results in me mixing everything up. My teachers hate it- I've frustrated teachers many times, when I'm reading, not paying attention, and they ask a question, and I get it right. That's always fun. ^^

I'm in a silly mood right now. :D

Lisbon

Lisbon noticed the tension in the air. Azulia appeared to be angry (angry wasn't the right word- Azulia wasn't one to get angry. Her eyes were icy, like chips of gold onyx, and her mouth set in a fine line, but it wasn't exactly the hot, shouting, pouting angry that Lisbon usually applied the word to) at Jane, and she wasn't sure what Jane had done to earn it. Tyler and Jay were obviously catching on to the icy atmosphere, and didn't know what it was from. Logan, however, seemed like he knew what was going on.

Jane suddenly spun around, smiling as if nothing had happened.

"Shall we?" he said, waving the master key. Jay looked relieved that the silent battle was over.

"Sure, let's go! Logan, Tyler, you should get back to the games. Azulia, you can go with them, if you'd like," Jay told them.

"Okay," Azulia said, giving Jane a last, fierce glance, her face clearly getting the message across: _stop it_. She walked off, Logan giving her a play-by-play of what she'd missed.

Jane

Jane was surprised at Azulia's reaction. He hadn't thought she'd be furious with him. It seemed like he'd finally found a chink in her armor. When their eyes met, icy gold against burning blue, it was more conversation than words could ever have.

Jane suddenly knew that he could've shouted at her, told her to suck it up, suffer in silence, quit being a baby, and she would've appreciated it. He could've stuck his finger in her face and told her that she wasn't supposed to tell anyone. He could've shoved her, and she would've taken it silently, almost happily.

But somehow, for reasons unknown, when she saw that he felt bad for her, it had infuriated her. He realized that it made her feel weak.

Another thing that reminded him of himself.

Lisbon

Lisbon followed as Jay led them to Rhea's locker. She tried to put Jane and Azulia's wordless fight behind her and focus on the task on hand. Jay was idly telling her about the school.

"This is Junior hall. Actually, only end of the hall is. Down there is Senior hall. On the floor above us is Freshman hall, and the entire hall split, like this one. Senior hall is below Sophomore hall. There are other halls, other wings, but this is the main one, where most of the lockers are. Everyone usually has at least two classes in this wing," he explained, glancing at the paper in his hand. "Yup, this is it. Rhea's locker, number 381." He motioned for Jane to give him the key, and Jane grinned.

"Actually, can I…?" he said, examining the key. Jay laughed.

"Sure. You like keys and locks?"

"Sort of. I know a man was convicted and sent to jail because a room was locked from the inside, the key still in it. The court's entire argument was based on how it was impossible for someone else to have killed the girl when he was the only other one in the room," Jane said, examining the key for a moment. He gave the combination dial an experimental twirl.

"Really? What happened?" Jay said, intrigued.

"It was an old lock, one of those fancy black ones with the tiny key that has the simple teeth." Jay nodded, understanding. "I was looking for a way to unlock it from the outside, when the key was inside."

"How?"

"I pushed a newspaper under the door so half was under the outside doorknob, and half was under the inside. It was very easy to push a pen in the keyhole and knock the key out. It fell on the newspaper, and I pulled the newspaper back under the door, then I had the key." Jane put his ear to the locker, twisting the dial.

"How did you get it back in on the other side?"

"I fed some fishing wire through the keyhole until it came back under the door. I tied it to the teeth of the key, and pulled it into the lock on the other side," he explained, jiggling the locker's latch.

"And the fishing wire?"

"I burned it off with a lighter."

"Of course! Genius!" Jay exclaimed, laughing. Jane smiled, and Lisbon rolled her eyes. _Quit being cocky, we've got things to do,_ she wanted to tell him.

"Good locks on these lockers. You can't hear the bolts line up, or move at all," Jane said, sliding the key into the lock and opening the locker. _Finally,_ Lisbon thought. Jane peered inside the locker. In another part of the school, Lisbon heard a buzzer go off, and the sound of many students cheering.

"Do the students need to go through here to leave?" she anxiously asked Jay.

"No, most of them are parked on the hill. A few might come this way, though." She grimaced, listening for approaching students. The last thing she wanted was a bunch of high schoolers mobbed around, wondering what was going on. She heard someone coming down the hall.

"It's just Azulia and her friends," Jane said soothingly, pulling out a few books and flipping through the pages, looking for notes or papers. A few biology notes fell out, and some math homework, but nothing out of the ordinary. Jay opened his mouth to say something, but Jane beat him to it. "Logan is wearing basketball sneakers, so they're squeaking, Tyler is wearing normal sneakers, that are just making a scuffing sound, and Azulia is in a new pair of Converse high-tops," he said as, sure enough, Logan, Azulia, and Tyler rounded the corner.

"You're only _just now_ getting into her locker?" Azulia said, surprised. Lisbon smirked slightly. _Exactly what I was thinking._

Third Person (Omnisent)

"Jane was telling stories, and there couldn't have been much time left in the game," Lisbon said. Azulia smiled, then turned and said goodbye to Tyler. Tyler started off, unaware that Logan wasn't following. Azulia waited until Tyler was around the corner before pulling Logan into a hug.

"I'll call you tomorrow. You won't tell anyone, will you?" she whispered, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"No, of course not. You can trust me, Az," he whispered back. They pulled away, and Logan jogged down the hall to catch up to Tyler. Lisbon gave Azulia a kind smile, and was surprised to see her return it. Jane had seen the whole thing out of the corner of his eye as he scoured the locker for anything that could help them.

"What's this?" Jane said suddenly, pulling out a small pile of cloth from the top shelf.

"That's a boy's T-shirt," Jay said, pointing out the obvious. His brows furrowed in confusion, and Azulia sniggered.

"It's Chris's shirt," she said. Lisbon's eyebrows shot up.

"Were he and Rhea-," she started to ask.

"No, I don't think they ever 'did it'. They would do that, though, give each other a shirt they'd worn," Azulia said, holding back giggles.

"Why?" Jay asked, bemused. Jane had a thoughtful look. He lifted the shirt to his face and sniffed it, then smiled.

"What are you doing?" Lisbon asked, half-intrigued and half-freaked out.

"Oh. So they could smell each other when they weren't together," Jane said. Lisbon's face took on the faintest hint of pink, which made him smile wider. He sniffed the shirt again, noticing that it smelled like an expensive type of cologne he'd tried once.

He took a few papers from the top shelf, and opened them, giving them to Lisbon after he finished reading them.

"Chris and Rhea didn't have many classes together, so they would pass notes. Set up dates, talk about what they wanted to do, chat that way," Azulia explained. Jane's eyes lit up as he realized something else. There wasn't a note about the date they were supposed to have the night Rhea died.

"What kind of girl is Eliza Jones?" Jane asked, continuing his search through a small pile of binders and notebooks.

"She's very smart. She says she'd like to go to college for neuroscience," he said proudly. "She'd be a good neurosurgeon, too. Steady hands, quite strong, too. She does basketball, soccer, and track. Mostly throwing events, but she's one of our best 400 meter runners. She's also in Publications."

"Publications?"

"It's the yearbook staff. It's a very unique class. You have to be accepted in. They handle the money, the ads, the pictures, everything."  
"I was in it my freshman year, but I wanted a study hall this year," Azulia put in. "It was a pretty cool class. We automatically got senior-junior lunch, first lunch, which is longest. And we got access to the offices, faculty rooms, and that stuff. Last year, Eliza was in charge of the deposits. You'd be amazed how much money one can make from selling yearbooks."

Jane put away the binder, poking through the mess of papers in the bottom of her locker.

"Not any more than being an agent for the California Bureau of Investigations, I'd bet," Lisbon said, smiling and turning to face her. Jay meandered over, listening idly.

"No, probably not. We made quite a bit, though, even with all the messed up transactions."

"Messed up transactions?"

"Yeah, sometimes we'd set a couple bills down, and the fans on the ceiling would blow them around. We think there's about two hundred dollars hidden under the cabinets."

"So, what exactly did you mean when you said Eliza and Rhea were starting to talk to each other again?"

"Exactly what I'd said. I saw them talking sometimes. It looked a bit like they were working out their problems. Either that, or they had some secret. Whenever I saw them talking, they were really close together, whispering, all secretive and urgent."

"Do you think they had a secret?"

"Yeah. Well, doesn't everyone?" Azulia said, eyes glittering. She was suddenly looking just past Lisbon. "Where did Jane go?"

****

Uh-oh! Where's Jane? ;D

Don't forget to press that green button and say hi!


	7. BUSTED

**Hey guys! Because of such excellently quick reviews, I've decided to give you this as a reward! I'll update normally next time (every three days, just about) of course, but this is just a little treat.**

**Thanks to: mwalter1, Auraya-of-the-White, Sophie Fatale, GSRFanatic123, Collier World, langfieldl, ravenfiremagick, Wizard-in-Disguise, and piratejester.**

**Piratejester- totally agree. High-tops work with everything, and they're sooo comfortable. Not very warm, though. It was -13 most of today, and my toes were friggin COLD!!**

**BTW, for anyone who's looking for a good read- check out **Burned** by Ellen Hopkins. There's some swearing, some violence, and some sex, but it's an amazing book. And don't be daunted by how the text looks- I almost didn't read it when I first opened it. But it's not what it looks like- it's normal book stuff, just chopped up like that. There is no rhyming or rhythm at all.**

**Also, another thing for all you Mentalist fans- .net/forum/PJs_Headbusters_The_First_Mentalist_Forum/53594/**

Third Person (Omniscient)

Lisbon spun around. Sure enough, the locker was left ajar, the key still in the lock. Jay grabbed them and stuck them in his pocket, following Lisbon as she walked quickly down the hall, peering into rooms.

"Jane?" she called, walking faster. _Good job,_ she thought. _You've lost him. Jeez, he's like a little kid. Take your eyes off him for a second and he's off, probably doing something he shouldn't._ She stopped outside one room, seeing curly hair and a vest. Jane. She calmed down with relief, and in that moment of relaxation, she spent an instant to admire his handsome hair and gorgeous face. _He's incredible,_ she mentally sighed, her face softening.

Until she saw the open file drawer.

"Jane, what are you doing?" she snapped. He turned around, legal-looking papers in his hands.

"Oh, just looking. Nothing important," he said cheerily, putting the papers in a file, and closing the drawer. Lisbon was mortified to see that the folder looked very classified and important. She turned to Jay.

"I'm so sorry, he does things like that sometimes," she apologized, giving Jane a stern glare. Azulia chuckled.

"It's fine. I'm sure whatever he saw was important for the investigation. He's free to search any files he needs to, if it means there's one less criminal free to roam," Jay said kindly. Lisbon scowled at Jane, who flashed a grin.

"Thank you, but I'm done looking. Do you think Mrs. Fox is still here?" Jane said.

"Probably. I think Thursday is the day she stays late," Jay said. The loud buzzing of a vibrating phone cut off what Jane was about to say. Jay fumbled to get his phone out of his pocket, and glanced at the screen.

"I'm sorry, but I should go. Azulia, can you keep them in line?" Jay said teasingly. She nodded.

"They're tricky ones, but I've been doing good so far," she joked back. Jay said goodbye and left. As soon as he was gone, Lisbon whirled on Jane.

"Jane, I can't believe you just walked right into the office and started reading their papers," she barked. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that you're exceptionally unobservant, not noticing I've gone until I've already done what I needed to do," he said smartly. "Azulia, lead the way."

"I'm the head of this team," she said hotly. "And you're going to learn to behave. What were you looking at?"

"Technically, I'm not really part of your CBI team. I'm just a consultant."

"Jane…" she said threateningly. He appeared to catch on that he was toeing the line.

"Deposit slips, transaction dates, and bank account information."

"What??" She almost stopped walking. Ahead of her, Azulia's shoulders were shaking with silent laughter. "Jane, that's illegal!"

He shrugged. "Jay had no idea what I was looking at. He doesn't do the paperwork, that's what he's got a secretary for."

"You can't just go looking through people's account information," she said, trying again to get him to feel a bit guilty.

"I just did, didn't I?"

"This is Madam Fox's room," Azulia said, cutting in reluctantly. She was enjoying their argument. Jane stepped into the doorway and knocked on the doorframe. A woman in her early thirties with black, very curly hair got up from a cluttered desk. She had almost no makeup on, and was quite pretty.

"Bonjour, Madam Fox. Je m'appelle Patrick Jane," Jane said in French, with an almost perfect accent. (Hello, Mrs. Fox. My name is Patrick Jane.) Lisbon's eyebrows went up- another surprising talent. What would he do next? Fly?

"Bonjour, monsieur," Madam Fox replied. (Hello, sir.)

"Comment allez-vous?" Jane said. (How are you?) Lisbon glanced at Azulia, but she seemed to be having no problem following the conversation. Lisbon wished she'd paid more attention in French. She knew Spanish pretty well, but she just hadn't gotten into French.

"Comme si, comme sa. Et toi?" (Okay. And you?)

"Ca va bien. Porquoi seulement comme si comme sa?" (Very good. Why only okay?)

"C'a été une longue journée. Avez-vous besoin de quelque chose?" (It has been a long day. Do you need something?)

"Oui, sil vous plait. Connaissez-vous Rhea?" (Yes, please. Do you know Rhea?)

Madam Fox frowned. "Yes. Why?" she said in English. Lisbon bit her lip, wondering what they'd said. It had gone too fast for her to keep up, but she thought she'd heard Rhea's name somewhere in the garbled vowels. She looked to Azulia, but she just shook her head.

"I lost them after a minute. I'm only in French II," Azulia whispered. "I think they were just greeting each other, asking how they were. Jane asked something about Rhea, but I don't know what connaissez means."

"It means 'do you know'," Jane said helpfully without turning around. "Azulia, your call. Tell her or not?"

"Go ahead," Azulia said wearily. "I'm going to my locker. I left my sunglasses in them." Jane nodded, and then stepped into the room, Lisbon following.

"Madam Fox… I'm sorry, but Rhea was killed Monday night. This is Agent Lisbon. We'd like to ask you a few questions," Lisbon explained when Jane was silent. She'd told people about death too many times to have a hard time with it anymore.

Madam Fox paled, putting her hand on her desk to steady herself.

"Non. C'est impossible," she breathed, looking around as if she expected someone to jump out and shout 'surprise!'. (No, that's impossible.)

"Je suis désolé, but it's true," Jane said sadly, sitting on a desk. (I'm sorry.)

"How?"

"She was stabbed at a local hotel-restaurant."

Madam Fox shook her head. "I can't believe it. Rhea, dead." She shook her head again, harder. "No, I'll cry later. What do you need to know to catch the killer?"

"His or her name would be nice," Jane said with a bit of black humor. "But since we aren't just given that… What was Rhea like?"

"Rhea is… _was_ a star. She shined bright, but not too bright as to blind one's eyes. She was always looking to make people happy, put them in the light rather than herself."

"Did anyone dislike her?"

"No. There was one boy, Scotty, who seemed upset with her, but it was because he loved her and she couldn't love him back. It wasn't her fault. We are puppets to our emotions. She didn't choose it." Lisbon noticed Jane's eyes glimmer, and knew he was going to say something very Jane-like.

"I must disagree with that last statement. We can control our emotions. You are right now, by not lamenting over Rhea's death. It's perfectly possible to change one emotion into something else. Fear into anger. Sadness into determination. Anger into joy," he said. Lisbon let out a slow breath, counting to ten.

"I _am_ lamenting over Rhea's death. I'm just covering it up," Madam Fox replied. "And changing emotions isn't the same as controlling them. Fear and anger are almost one and the same. That goes with the other things you've said, too."

"No, emotions _can_ and _will_ be controlled." His eyes were fiery with a peculiar energy. Lisbon felt a pang of pity, remembering his house. She agreed with Madam Fox- emotions can't be controlled, but they can be covered up. Jane's constant cheeriness was his personal mask, skillfully crafted and constantly worn. It could fool all but the best. A successful investigator was one of the best, and it had almost convinced her. The inside of his house had, in her eyes, turned the mask translucent. Not quite transparent, but not the opaque it was for everyone else.

"Can we return to the questioning?" she said. Jane stood.

"No, I think we're okay to go, now," he told her. The mask went up again.

"Okay. Thank you for your time, Madam Fox," Lisbon said, starting out the door.

"Au revoir," Madam Fox said. Jane hesitated in the doorway.

"Je n'ai pas tort. Je sais plus au sujet des émotions que n'importe quel un homme devrait jamais," he said without facing her, so low the French teacher had to strain to hear. (I am not wrong. I know more about emotions than any one man ever should.) He followed Lisbon before Madam Fox could say anything else.

Azulia met them in the hall, a pair of sunglasses on her head and a notebook in her hand.

"How did it go?" she asked.

"Great," Lisbon answered sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Jane's mouth twisted into a bitter smile.

"I think I know who did it," he said. Azulia's eyes lit up, and she smiled venomously.

"Who?" she asked excitedly. Jane shook his head.

"I said I _think_. I've got an idea of how to get a confession, and proof. Tomorrow," he said, cutting Azulia off as she opened her mouth to argue.

"Fine."

Lisbon drove them back to the office. Rigby and Cho were tiredly skimming a few notebooks, while Van Pelt typed up a report.

"Find anything?" Lisbon asked. Jane picked up a pile of papers and notes from Rhea's room and retreated to the couch. They shook their heads.

"No. Azulia was right, though. Eliza and Rhea were really good friends once," Cho said, holding up a picture frame with two girls, about six years old, standing side by side. One was clearly Rhea, over ten years ago. The other girl had curly hair and a round face. Eliza.

"We've got Eliza, Scotty, and Chris in here for questioning, too," Van Pelt said. Jane stood up.

"Good. Where are they?" he said.

"Conference room, watching TV," she replied. He got up to go start the questioning. The agents followed, the air heavy with eagerness. They trusted Jane to get something good out of them.

In the conference room was three seventeen-year-olds. Jane took in the details quickly. _Sitting apart. Eliza and Chris very far away from each other. Scotty has slightly bloodshot eyes. Chris obviously lives very comfortably. Scotty doesn't have much money- spent it on drugs and alcohol, likely. Eliza is average. Chris has been crying. So has Eliza. Scotty's red eyes could be from crying or 'other things'._

Chris had short, blond hair, a thin, handsome face, and dark eyes. He was tall and skinny, but still strong. Scotty was shorter, thicker, with wide shoulders, somewhat stout legs, and lank, curly brown hair. His eyes were faintly droopy, but not overly so. It wasn't obvious that he was a druggie- he just looked a bit tired, a bit unwashed. Eliza had light brown, extremely curly hair and quick blue eyes. She looked smart, pretty, but mostly average.

"I'm Patrick Jane," he said, walking in. Chris stood up politely to shake hands (Chris's hand was sweaty and a bit slippery, though strong). Scotty looked reluctant to get up (probably hungover or high- either way, he was tired and wanted to stay seated) but he stood and shook hands (shaky, not sweaty, calloused and faintly cracked). Eliza got up last, her movements clearly showing that she was getting up to be courteous to Jane, rather than mimicking Chris like Scotty. They, too, shook hands (hers with chewed fingernails, dry but with good grip, not shaky at all).

"Do you have any good leads on who did it?" Chris asked anxiously, eyes wide and hopeful.

"They aren't going to tell you if they do," Scotty said, his voice a dull monotone. "As far as they're concerned, they can treat you like you were the one who did it. Like a hostile captive or something."

Chris made a face. "I didn't do it, I swear. I loved her. I still do! I would never hurt her."

"Chris, shut up," Eliza snapped, squeezing her eyes shut. "Do you live under a rock? Never seen an actiony-criminal movie? 'Everything you say can and will be used against you in court,'" she mimicked in a low, fake manly voice. "Quit giving them ammo."

"I didn't do it. I don't have anything to hide," he declared boldly.

"No, I think he's definitely seen a few of those movies. He's being totally cliché. 'I didn't do it, I swear!' That's so CSI," Scotty smirked.

"Can we just get to the questioning so we can find out who the bastard is that killed Rhea?" Chris spat, grinding his teeth. Jane watched the entire argument with an amused look, not making a move to stop them.

"This way to the interrogation room. Who's going first?" Lisbon said. Jane smiled.

"Actually, they're all set. I know who killed Rhea Vann," he said confidently, his gaze lingering on each of the teen's faces.

"What?!" Lisbon said, awed. Jane nodded confidently.

"It's too late to sign all the papers and such tonight. I'll tell you tomorrow night," he said, smirking a tad.

"Why? You should tell me. Now." Lisbon's eyes narrowed, but Jane only smirked more.

"It's fun to watch you freak out," he laughed, walking out of the room. "You all can go home now. Better pack up. One of you is going to jail soon, and you know who you are," he told the teens as he left, a surprisingly dangerous gleam in his eyes. Halfway back to the office, Lisbon grabbed his sleeve and turned him around.

"Patrick Jane, you are going to tell me who killed Rhea right now," she hissed. Jane held up his hands innocently.

"I don't have proof yet. That was mostly an act- I need the killer to be skittish. Make a move they wouldn't normally do," he explained. Lisbon let go of him, taking a step back.

"So… you don't know who it is?"

"I think I might. I won't be sure until tomorrow," he said, opening the door to the office. He grabbed the stack of notes and papers found in Rhea's room and flopped down on the couch as the others began discussing paperwork.

Jane tuned them out, thumbing through the piles. There wasn't a note about Chris and Rhea's date in it. He laid the papers on the floor and pushed a pillow on his face, thinking hard. A groan broke through his thoughts.

"Oh no. Jay asked you to tell the students what it is we do," Lisbon moaned, reading an email. Jane smiled tightly. Perfect for what he had in mind.

"What? What do you mean?" Van Pelt asked, walking over to read the email.

"He wants us to do what we were supposed to do Monday night at that meeting, pretty much. Tell the students about our job. What we do, how we do it," Lisbon grumbled, frowning at the monitor.

Across the room, the door opened suddenly. Everyone looked up. Jane's smile became more of a grimace. He'd known this would happen eventually.

"What's going on in here?"

**Who could it be? Review to find out!**

**Also, the Mrs. Trunchbull reference is from Matilda. She's the horrible, creepy headmaster lady who throws kids out the window.**


	8. Talking It Out Or Not

**4-day weekend! Yay! Teacher inservice day today, and Martin Luther King day Monday. However, my internet router-dish-tower thing is totally frozen (might have something to do with the fact the temperature hasn't been above -5 for the last two days, and isn't supposed to until Tuesday) so my internet is on the wack. It might work for a minute here and there, but it's rare.**

**Thanks to: Everyone who reviewed, you know who you are. I can't go online to see who reviewed right now, and when I do get a minute of internet, I'm going to rush to post this.**

**A bit of Jisbon in this chapter, if you could call what happens Jisbon. And there's a bit of feuding. ;D I think it's a good chapter.**

Azulia

When Lisbon announced Jay's idea, Azulia paused the music pumping into her ears. She wasn't sure if she imagined it, but she'd thought she'd felt a tug deep in her chest, like someone had pulled a nerve in her spine. Moments after, the sensation faded, and she felt something different. The need to protect Jane was stronger.

She glanced at him, but he was lying on the couch, pressing a pillow to his face. She would've grinned (the position was so familiar- it was what she did when she was trying to think- covered up her face and her head. But when there were people bustling around, she found it easier to put in headphones and close her eyes. People tended to ask if something was wrong if they saw her with a hood pulled over her head and her hands over her face) if not for the feeling. Usually, it was his face that made the feeling flare, but even covered, the desire was strong, throbbing against her ribs.

With a sudden, peculiar certainty, she knew why the feeling had intensified. It was getting closer. The event that she needed to save him from was just finalized. She didn't know what it was yet, but she knew it needed to be stopped somehow. She could only see the edge of his face, but she saw enough to guess that he was grinning. He'd just made some decision that secured the event.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and a man walked in, eyes staring straight at her. She pulled out the headphones and gave him one of her best calculating tiger looks. His upper lip twitched, and he turned to Lisbon.

As soon as the man turned, she knew that he was one of the big faces, the higher-ups. Lisbon sat up straighter, Rigby put the journal he was skimming down, and Van Pelt turned her chair away from the computer. Cho had his back to the door, and he gave Rigby a curious look when he stopped working.

She quickly made a personality profile- starch and metal mostly. He looked like someone that shouldn't be crossed (not that it meant anything to her- she'd do whatever she liked if he turned out to be Agatha Trunchbull), who upheld the rules and would do whatever necessary to enforce them. Definite metal-starch combination.

"What?" he said, confused. Rigby nodded to the man who'd just entered, and Cho turned around. He, too, dropped the journal. Jane, however, remained relaxed and splayed out over the couch. He had the courtesy to take the pillow off his face, though.

"Mr. Minelli," Lisbon said, her tone carefully surprised. "What brings you here?"

"She does," he said in raspy growl, nodding to Azulia. She was pleased to notice that he didn't glance at her again.

"What about her?" Lisbon asked. Azulia saw that she did a good job of hiding the fact that she already knew 'what about her'. She glanced at Jane, who was sitting up, his curly hair in a mess.

She knew he was noting the same things Azulia was. The papers in Mr. Minelli's hand, ready to be consulted if Lisbon dared to deny what she knew was true. The determined glint in his eyes, obvious that he'd set his mind on something and had already gone through every possible argument Lisbon would pose. The way he was standing, relaxed and ready to stay for as long as was needed to enforce what he'd come to do.

"Lisbon, you know this is the California Bureau of Investigation. Not a babysitting club."

"Yes, I know that." Her voice was already low and guilty.

"Then you also know that we don't usually permit people to stay here if they're not working for us."

"Well, technically, I _have_ been working for you. I've been helping them find the killer," Azulia put in.

"I'm sure you were," he replied with the tone adults usually use on children when they're agreeing, but not really agreeing. Azulia's eyes narrowed as he continued to talk to Lisbon as if she hadn't said anything. "We don't have a bring-your-kids-to-work day here for a reason. This is an investigation agency. It's hard to work with children in the way." Jane gave Azulia an expectant look. He wasn't let down.

"Holy crap, you did _not_ just say that," she said, her voice dripping with disdain. She gave him a look akin to what she'd look at a leering drunkard like. "Children? Really? Last time I checked, I was just one person. But you never know, I might be wrong. I might be 'children'. And I'm not a kid. I've made it through my sister's death without shedding a tear, something most mature adults could never do. I've been taking care of myself since I was twelve."

Mr. Minelli's eyebrows went up, and he looked amazed. No, past amazed. He looked like he'd just learned that he was just told he was in the Matrix, and he also was an alien, and was adopted, and every other jaw-dropping thing that could be said.

Lisbon's mouth was open slightly in a combination of horror and admiration. Rigby and Cho looked like a unicorn had just ran past, and Van Pelt looked merely surprised. Jane was shaking with laughter behind Mr. Minelli's back, not surprised in the least.

But she wasn't done yet. "Okay, I might look like a kid to an antique like you, but fifteen years are quite a long time," she continued, her gold eyes colder than ever. "Halfway to thirty, if you can scrape the rust off your math skills. I retain almost twice as much information as a fossil like you ever could on your best day.

"I can give the team information on this investigation that they'd never find out on their own, which is more than what you can say. All you do is sign the papers and tell them how to run their investigations. I'd bet my best headphones that you haven't actually solved a case for at least three years, and I'm being generous. You know what I'm saying is true. I know things you'd never understand if it was written on your bedroom wall in blood," she hissed, looking suddenly more dangerous than she should.

Jane

Behind Mr. Minelli, Jane stopped laughing as suddenly as if someone had punched him in the gut. _Written on your bedroom wall in blood,_ her words rang in his head. Memories and emotions thrashed against the walls he'd locked them up behind. He struggled to keep his mask from cracking, and won, stilling the pain.

Getting up, he put his hand on Mr. Minelli's shoulder. "Can I have a moment?" he said. Lisbon's boss blinked, his amazement and confusion making way for anger. Without waiting for an answer, he gently steered him into the hall.

"Make it quick, Jane, I need to deal with that," he growled, finding his voice.

"That's what I need to talk about. I'm very sorry about her- her parents aren't home often, so her sister mostly took care of her. She's very upset now, and it's natural for teens to lash out when they're in pain. She's staying with Van Pelt," Jane said apologetically.

"That's no excuse for her mouthing off like that."

"But it is. Her sister was just killed, and she's trying to catch the killer. It would help her get over the death faster if the killer was caught quickly. Right now, she sees you as an obstacle that will slow the investigation down, if you remove her. We're almost done the case, anyway."

"Good, then you won't miss her as much." He started to go back to the office, but Jane caught his arm.

"Mr. Minelli, she does what I do," he said, whispering to add to the overall effect. The hall wasn't lit because most offices were closed, and that make it look even more intense and unearthly. "She's excellent at seeing subtle things that help create the overall picture. Almost better than I am. Think! This is like getting a second consultant as good as I am, without needing to pay her."

"Well…" the older man looked thoughtful.

"Keep her. This is the only time she'll ever say something like that to you. It was a one time deal. Stay above her teenage ways- react in a way she doesn't expect, don't stoop to her level."

"Alright, but anything like this ever happens again…" Mr. Minelli trailed off threateningly. Jane nodded, his face relieved and grateful, but beneath that, he was relaxed, content. He'd known this would happen eventually, and he'd planned for it.

"Thank you so much," he said, smiling. He opened the door for him, but, just as he knew he would, he shook his head.

"No, I've got work to do, and I don't want to start anything."

"Of course, Mr. Minelli. Thanks again." They parted ways. Lisbon, Cho, Rigby, and Van Pelt were tense, waiting for the verdict, but Azulia was relaxed, lying on the couch.

"It's fine. Azulia can stay, and we won't need to worry about him again for a while," Jane told them. They relaxed.

"How did you convince him to let her stay?" Lisbon asked. Jane opened his mouth to reply, but Azulia cut him off.

"So, am I a confused youth, a suspect, or a hurting teen?" she said carelessly, adjusting the pillow under her head.

"Hurting teen. That's my couch," Jane complained mildly.

"Mm-hmm. It was my sweet talking that got him to let me stay," she said, grinning.

"I'm sure it was. And you're never going to be allowed to talk to him again. That was a one-time deal, I won't be able to talk him out of it next time. Can I have my spot back?"

"No, I bet you could do it again, if you really needed to. It wouldn't be easy, though."

"Let's not test that. I'd like my couch."

"It's my turn now. Don't get in a tizzy, you can have it back later. Go sit somewhere else like a respectable adult. I'm a hurting teen, after all," she said, snickering. Jane rolled his eyes and turned around, walking to Lisbon's room. Azulia threw the pillow at him, thumping him in the back of the head and dropping to the floor. He continued as if it hadn't happened.

Third Person (Omniscient)

He sat down across from her desk and watched her finish writing some notes down in a notebook. She put her pen down and looked up. He didn't smile, or frown. He just stared at her. After almost a minute of silence, testing the patience of the other-

"What?" Lisbon said finally.

"Nothing important. I thought we should talk," Jane said lightly. Lisbon bit her lip, instinctively knowing what he wanted to talk about.

"What about?" she asked, hesitant.

"Well… we kissed, and we never had a chance to figure it out." Lisbon noticed, with surprise, that he looked a bit uncomfortable and nervous.

"Oh. Um…" She chewed on her lip, staring down at her desk.

"I think it would be better if we just put that behind us," Jane said slowly, not taking his eyes off her face for a moment, anxious to see her reaction.

Lisbon struggled to find the right words. She wanted to ask why, but was worried that would sound like she didn't want to pretend it didn't happen. She really didn't know what she thought about it. Jane noticed her struggle.

"You're my boss, and we've both got busy lives, and…" he trailed off. He didn't want to talk about the state of his house, and the fact that he felt like he was betraying his wife every time he saw a woman.

"Yeah, I get it. Your wife just died, so… yeah, I understand. We should keep our relationship strictly professional." It was silent again.

"I'm…" Jane started to say, trailing off again. Lisbon looked up.

"You're what?" She hated how eager her voice sounded.

"I'm… sorry. I'm going to go check on Azulia," he said, giving up on what he was trying to say. Lisbon had to fight to keep her face from falling, but it was a futile attempt. The ex-psychic had already noticed her disappointment. Jane stood, and after a short pause, left the room. Lisbon waited until she was sure he was gone before dropping her head on her arms, huffing out a breath. _Damn. Out of all the things to say. Thanks a lot, Patrick Jane._

**And, voila! Please review! BTW, the Mrs. Trunchbull refrence is from the book/movie 'Matilda'. Mrs. Trunchbull is the psycho, evil principal.**


	9. Mortality

**Thanks to: Auraya-of-the-White, piratejester, Ebony10, DD2, langfieldl, and GSRFanatic123.**

**Alright, early update, but I couldn't stand it. This is one of the more excellent chapters, even though it is short. –Smirks- Enjoy!**

The Next Day

Third Person (Omniscient)

Lisbon followed Jane to the school, wondering what he was planning. He'd been oddly enthusiastic about the meeting, even though it had the same point as the meeting on Monday that he'd not stopped complaining about. They passed through the doors (the lack of metal detectors made her nervous, and she touched her belt with worry- Jay had asked her not to bring her gun) and Lisbon tried again.

"Jane, c'mon. What are you planning?" she asked.

"Nothing. You'll find out soon enough," he said confidently. What Lisbon didn't know was that he was shaking like a leaf inside, nervous for what he was about to do. The conversation with Azulia that morning hadn't brightened his outlook, either.

She'd approached hesitantly, and had quietly, almost solemnly asked to talk to him alone.

"Mr. Jane… Please, you can trust me. Just… what have you done?" she'd asked suddenly, looking him in the eyes with that penetrating gaze. He met it evenly.

"It's fine, Azulia. Please, don't worry about me. I don't need any more protection," he reassured her. She didn't agree.

The feeling had grown, becoming more clear. She knew it had to do with the meeting at the school. Something very bad was going to happen to Jane. As their eyes met, she imagined a pair of vicious rams locking horns, or lightning slashing down at an arcing tsunami. She pictured the gold and blue meeting in between them, roiling and flailing to try and read the other.

It was more of a statement than a question. Jane smiled relentlessly.

"I don't know what you're talking about." And that all she could get out of him.

Jay greeted them at the doors. "Jane, Lisbon! Thank you so much for coming!" he said, shaking hands with them.

"No problem. These are Agents Rigby, Cho, and Van Pelt," Lisbon introduced.

"Nice to meet you. Now, the students will be coming into the auditorium after homeroom, in about five minutes. Are you all ready?" he asked excitedly. Lisbon looked at Jane- he was the one who would do most of the talking.

"Always," he said, eyes bright. Once again, Lisbon wondered what he was going to do.

"Great. Azulia, are you going on stage with them, or are you going to stay with the students?" Jay asked her.

"On- um… with the students," she said, changing her mind at the last second. On stage didn't feel like it was where she needed to be. Jay nodded, and she left for the auditorium. Jay led the team to the stage wings.

"I'll introduce you, and then you can come out," he said quickly. "Good luck!" With that, the principal walked out to the podium, and the chatter quieted until it was silent.

"Good morning, everyone! This morning, I managed to get some special guests who do something really excellent. These people solve crimes just like those on TV. Please welcome the agents of the California Bureau of Investigation," he said into the microphone. A series of polite clapping echoed through the auditorium.

Lisbon poked Jane in the back. "Go!" she whispered. He nodded, and hesitated for an instant, just long enough to brush his lips against hers under the cover of the curtains. It was short, much too short- her breathing hitched, but the soft movement against her mouth was already slipping away. She leaned forward slightly, not wanting it to go, but it was already gone.

Her eyes widened in surprise. He'd lied. He had feelings for her, and they both knew it. She knew she felt the same way for him, and wanted to tell him, but other, more pressing matters clamored for his attention. Such as a crowd of over two hundred teenagers.

He stepped back from her and took a deep breath. It wasn't until he was standing at the podium that she realized he shouldn't be nervous or anything. He used to be a famous medium, on TV and in front of crowds all the time. And the kiss had seemed almost like a silent farewell.

That was her first clue that something was going to go wrong. She was about to find out exactly how wrong things could go.

Jane

Jane walked out to the podium, his old crowd skills coming back to him. Despite that, he was a tad anxious for what he was about to do. Sure, he was good at public talking. But this was different. He was glad he'd kissed Lisbon, though, so that if the worst possible scenario played out, she would know what he felt for her.

"Hello everyone. My name is Patrick Jane. As Mr. Lee said, I work for the CBI, but I'm not necessarily one of their agents. I'm a consultant. If they have any questions, it's my job to help solve them. Of course, I do a lot of work that would be considered an agent's job, too. I inspect the crime scene. It's become my unofficial role to see what others don't." He continued to talk about how he observed small details to see a bigger picture, but he was just letting the words flow, not really concentrating on them.

_Come on,_ he was thinking. _Make your move. Do it now._

His silent pleas were answered.

Azulia

Azulia sat in one of the back rows, once again following her intuition. Jane walked on stage, and her stomach lurched. _This is it,_ she realized fearfully. Instinctively, her eyes scanned the audience.

"Hello everyone. My name is Patrick Jane." He said the familiar line calmly.

In the row in front of her, a few seats diagonally, was a mass of curly hair. The occupant of the seat was fumbling with something in their bulky, hoodie-with-a-zipper jacket thing. They pulled something long and thin out of a pocket, and quickly poked each person beside her with it.

Azulia froze.

"It's become my unofficial role to see what others don't."

The student wasn't done. Pulling another object out of his or her jacket, the student delicately set it between the seats of the students before him or her, careful to keep the end just out of their peripheral vision.

Azulia's eyes widened in horror, her mind racing.

"Effectively, I'm keeping more people from being killed. I stop those whose only desire is to end life."

The curly-haired person squinted through a small hole on the top of the object, and put their finger on a small protrusion on the bottom.

"My life is devoted to the lives of others."

A smile lifted the corners of the student's mouth.

Azulia suddenly couldn't breathe.

"I'm fighting death."

Trigger.

Pulls.

Back.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…


	10. A Protector

**Thanks to: Auraya-of-the-White, B0N3S-FR3AK, Wizard-in-Disguise, kathiann, Collier World, GSRFanatic123, Ebony10, and Sophie Fatale.**

**Because of the terrific onslaught of reviews, I've decided to review early. Again. And I'll probably update early on the next one, too, because…**

Azulia

There was only one option, really. Stop the shooter.

She launched herself over the seats, crashing bodily into the would-be shooter. The bullet went wide. Most students didn't know what was really going on- the bullet was silent, soundless. All they knew was Azulia had just attacked someone.

The teens on either side of the shooter didn't move, even when Azulia wrestled with the shooter, trying to take the gun away. The shooter was pulling the trigger over and over again, trying to hit her.

She dug her fingernails into the shooter's empty hand and struggled to keep the gun pointed at the ceiling. She was strong, but so was the shooter. By that time, other students saw the black object waving in the air, and had started to panic. At the fringes of the room, the CBI agents were struggling to get through the writhing mass of frightened teens.

Azulia fought to keep the shooter down, but the teen was putting up quite a fight. A knee bashed into Azulia's ribs.

Azulia gouged a deep furrow in the shooter's arm.

The shooter hit her in the head with the butt of the gun.

Azulia shoved the shooter's shoulders, a loud crack as the attacker's head smacked against the floor.

They barely slowed or weakened from the battering.

The shooter's empty hand got loose, but, thinking fast, Azulia screeched in the shooter's face, startling them into releasing the gun. The shooter shouted with anger, and landed an elbow in Azulia's eye. She cried out in pain, but still managed to kick the gun away.

By then, the agents were able to help. Rigby grabbed the shooter's arm and dragged the flailing teen out from under Azulia. Cho stuck a gun up against the shooter's head, and they stopped flailing instantly. Van Pelt was kneeling beside Azulia where she lay, panting, rubbing her rapidly swelling eye.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Azulia nodded, touching each injury in turn, assessing the damage. Nothing was broken or bleeding, but she was going to be pretty bruised. Definitely a huge black eye. The auditorium had mostly cleared, the teachers able to take control again and get everyone out. Lisbon ran over, Jane close behind.

Third Person (Omniscient)

"Oh my God," Lisbon breathed, looking at the scene with wide eyes. Jane looked triumphant, but slightly shaken from the close call.

It had taken all of his willpower to keep from cowering behind the podium, hiding from the attack he knew was coming. He realized how clever the would-be shooter was- her black, curly hair had disguised the gun almost perfectly. He fought down a shiver, glad that Azulia was sitting in the right place.

Azulia glared up at him, as much as one could glare with a swelling eye, askew hair, and rapidly blackening bruises.

"_Ow_, dammit!! You planned this!" she growled accusingly, her eyes cold flames. He smiled, slowly and hesitantly. Lisbon gasped.

"You… you planned this??" she cried.

"Um… yes?" he said, looking a bit nervous. She practically swelled with anger, and he held up his hands innocently. "It worked, didn't it?"

"That's what you've got to say for yourself?!? 'It worked'?? Yes, it worked, but Azulia got beaten to a pulp, Jay will never forgive us, and the students have probably destroyed the halls trying to get out!" she said furiously.

"I didn't plan _this_ part. I knew the killer would try to eliminate me, and now was their best chance. The school is only a minute away from the hospital, so they'd be able to fix a chest wound so long as it didn't hit the heart, I knew Azulia was keeping an eye out, but I thought she'd handle it with more… _finesse_," he said.

"I'm right here," Azulia said irritably, blinking her bruised eye experimentally. They paid no attention to her.

"_Finesse??_ She almost got killed! And you did, too! What if the shooter aimed for the head, or got you in the heart?"

"She wouldn't aim for the head. At this distance, it was a much smaller target, and she didn't want anything really gory. And she wouldn't have hit my heart, she's not as practiced with guns as she is with knives," he said confidently.

"Can we argue about this later, and get back to the case on hand?" Van Pelt suggested, helping Azulia climb to her feet. Jane nodded, and they all turned to the would-be shooter, still held by the shoulders by Rigby and Cho pointing his gun at her head.

"I was right. Good try, Eliza," Jane said cheerily. She smiled back brightly.

"What's the line? Oh, yeah. 'I would've gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for you pesky kids!'" she said. Azulia's eyes flashed, and she fidgeted nervously. Jane gave her a curious glance. She looked back at him, her eyes wide (one eye wide, the other as wide as it could go with it quickly swelling shut), trying to communicate something.

"So you killed Rhea?" Lisbon asked, oblivious to Azulia and Jane.

"Duh."

"Why?"

"Because Rhea took everything away from her. Popularity. Boys. She even took away your status of sixth-smartest in her class. You're the one who made her popular in the first place, the ungrateful slut," Jane answered in a soft, appraising croon before Eliza could open her mouth. "Then she caught you stealing money, and it pushed you too far. So you killed the little bitch. Serves her right, she's had enough goodness in her life to count for a lifetime. She had it coming anyway." His tone turned sour, low, and dangerous.

"You're still seventeen, so why not have a last wild moment before you can be thrown in jail? Well, I hope you enjoy your stay in Juvy, it's just as bad. They'll eat you to the marrow, and stick your head on a pike for all to see. You'll never live in peace again- one memory or another will keep coming back. You're going to die, scared and alone, like Rhea. But you'll know what you did to deserve an ending like that. Rhea didn't deserve it at all." He stared off with Eliza for a moment before she looked away, an angry blush rising to her cheeks. Lisbon noticed Azulia open her mouth, but then close it and swallow anxiously.

"I'm not going to die alone," Eliza bit back. Her smile made Lisbon nervous. She suddenly whipped her jacket open, and everyone staggered back, away from what she'd exposed. Azulia's breath hissed out in fear.

Lining her jacket was a mass of wires, black contraptions, and metal. She smirked, exposing white teeth. "And neither will you." She turned to Jane, staring into his eyes. This time, he was the one who flinched when she spoke.

"You know I had help. That was a curare on the needle that I got the two students with. I don't have access to paralyzing drugs like that. And I wouldn't have access to these lovelies, either," she said, running a finger over the hypnotizing whirl of wires. "Wanna know who helped? He said you know him. He knows you pretty well. And your wife. Daughter, too." Eliza paused for the effect.

"Red John."

Three things happened at once.

Eliza pushed the button.

The CBI agents, protected with Kevlar vests and their emergency training, took defensive action, diving behind chairs and such.

Azulia saw that, if she didn't do something, Jane would certainly be killed, as he appeared to be frozen in shock. Thinking quickly, she threw herself at him, knocking him to the ground. She felt a stabbing pain as her back took a mass of heat and shrapnel. Her senses were overrun with agony, and so, doing the only thing her body could in a situation like that, it shut down. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.

…**of that. I am a cruel writer, leaving you two cliffhangers in a row, and I deserve to be forcibly fed bees for my scurrilous actions. Apologies! –sheepishly grins, and cowers under desk-**


	11. Crimson Ties

**Alright, I'm sick of leaving cliffies, because they get really old really fast, so I'm posting two chapters. They're still broken up into different chapters, though- one long, huge chapter is pretty daunting. The next next chapter has some major Jisbon. I've written up to chapter 17, and I think this story will probably have around 25 chapters.**

**Thanks to: Auraya-of-the-White, Sophie Fatale, Collier World, RID3RLVR, Ebony10, kathiann, langfieldl, piratejester, and ..x.**

Jane

Jane lay on the ground, a bit dazed. His head throbbed from hitting the ground so hard, and he could feel a few cuts in his arms from shrapnel. He felt very heavy, so he decided not to get up yet.

Then he felt hot blood on his torso, and got a bit worried. _A chest wound? I don't feel anything there, it just feels heavy._ He lifted his head up just enough to see Azulia sprawled across him, and put it together.

She'd taken the bulk of the shrapnel.

"Azulia." He said her name urgently, hoping she would get up but knowing she wouldn't. "Azulia!" To his surprise, she stirred slightly when he touched her neck to check for a pulse. "Azulia, don't move, the ambulance will be here in a moment." He didn't dare get up, for fear of moving her and causing more damage than he already had.

"Everyone okay?" Lisbon said, getting up. She had a small scratch on her leg, but nothing major.

"Good here," Rigby said, dusting a bit of soot off his slightly burned clothes.

"I'm fine," Cho reported.

"Knocked my head pretty hard, but it's not bad." Van Pelt climbed out from between two seats she'd sheltered behind, rubbing an already-forming bruise on her forehead.

"Jane?" Lisbon's voice got a hint of worry when he didn't respond. She looked around for him, and her eyes got wide when she saw him on the ground, covered with blood.

"My arms are pretty cut up, but I'm okay." He was slightly surprised at how calm his voice sounded. "But… Azulia…" he trailed off as, to everyone's horror, Azulia giggled quietly.

"Azulia?" Jane said, hopeful as she started to regain some form of consciousness.

"Stlingrah," she muttered, sounding half asleep as the others rushed over. Cho tore the remains of the back of her shirt away, while Van Pelt carefully helped Rigby move her off Jane.

"This looks bad, Lisbon. There's a lot of damage. It missed the spine, so she won't be paralyzed or anything, and it isn't extremely deep, but there's a lot of it," Cho assessed quickly. The blood was already pooling on the ground. Jane crawled to his feet unsteadily, his arms dripping blood, and went over to Azulia.

"Azulia, can you hear me?" he said loudly. Cho lifted each eyelid and shone a flashlight at her eyes. Her pupils dilated, and she groaned, rolling her head away from the light. She mumbled a garbled reply.

"Mhh back," he made out. "String… sling… stingrah. In m'back." (My back. --- In my back)

"Hold on, Azulia, the ambulance is almost here," he said reassuringly, his voice holding confidence that he didn't feel. "You're going to be fine."

"Laar," she said, a bit more coherent. (Liar) She coughed faintly, and grimaced. "Ahhhhhooww," she groaned, moving a bit more. "Owwww. Geroff!" (Oww. Oww. Get off!) She began to thrash weakly.

"Grab her arms! If she moves too much, she might drive the shrapnel in deeper!" Van Pelt cried. Jane moved to help, but Lisbon looked pointedly at his bleeding arms, and he decided not to.

"Azulia, you need to hold still," he said forcefully but soothingly. Cho had his fingers on the wrist of the arm he was holding. He looked up suddenly, his face worried.

"Pulse is slowing. Where is the ambulance?" the agent said urgently.

"She's loosing too much blood. Shouldn't we be putting pressure on the wounds?" Van Pelt asked, her face pinched with worry. Jane instinctively took in her composure, analyzing her face, posture, and voice to conclude she didn't like sitting there, unable to do anything for her while they waited for the ambulance.

"Owwww! Geh'm awff!" Azulia cried, and everyone flinched at the pain in her voice. (Ow! Get them off!) "Geh'm-," she broke off, coughing hard. Jane noticed flecks of blood coloring her normally pale lips crimson.

"No, that would move the shrapnel and cause more damage," Lisbon said, holding Azulia's head still. Her writhing was weakening quickly. Jane stared down at the catastrophic scene in horror.

Lisbon, looking professional and cool as usual, but he could tell she was faintly panicked. Cho, holding one arm, concentrating on her pulse, a bit frustrated that he couldn't do anything. Rigby, holding her feet, still slightly shocked and surprised at how fast everything had gone wrong. Van Pelt, composed but worried, and Jane knew she silently praying inside her head.

And then Azulia, the only person who'd seen right through his mask from the beginning. He wasn't sure if it was irritating or a relief to have someone know him so well. She was just as observant as he was, maybe even more. A unique, confident, cheery individual with the most complex personality he'd ever been around. He was sure that, if his daughter had grown to fifteen years old, she would've been just like her.

But it might end like this, Azulia bleeding on the floor like his daughter had, dying from a blow that should've been for him. Catastrophic didn't cover it.


	12. Critical

**IMPORTANT!!!**

**I POSTED TWO CHAPTERS AT ONCE**

**DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE ONE BEFORE IT**

**DO NOT SCROLL DOWN OR YOU WILL RUIN THE CHAPTER BEFORE THIS**

**IMPORTANT!!!**

**CHECK THE CHAPTER BEFORE THIS TO MAKE SURE YOU'VE READ IT**

**DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER IF YOU HAVEN'T**

**IMPORTANT!!!**

**REVIEW AFTER READING THIS CHAPTER**

**IMPORTANT!!!**

Lisbon

Finally, the ambulance showed up. Lisbon watched with the others (Jane careful to keep his slashed-up arms concealed behind a chair) as the medics carefully loaded Azulia on a stretcher and ran her outside.

"Sir," one started, seeing the blood all over Jane's shirt.

"Not mine," he said with a small, sad smile. The medic nodded and followed the others. Knowing she'd done all she could for Azulia, Lisbon turned to Jane.

His expression was that of pure, undiluted, raw sadness, edged with terror for what he'd caused. If not for her agent training and experience, she would've bawled simply from the look on his face. It was almost a disappointed look, like he'd failed. She couldn't help but approach and put a hand lightly on his shoulder, mindful of the cuts.

"Jane…" she said quietly, her eyes filled with worry. He struggled to smile, finally managing to pull his mask on again, but she knew she would never be fooled by it again.

"I should probably go to the hospital," he said, voice betraying no hint of the pain he was in, both mentally and physically. She nodded, taking her hand off his shoulder, the moment gone.

"Probably. We all should, just to check for any shrapnel," Lisbon told them all. Cho made a face, but they didn't complain. She had a feeling they just wanted to be there to see how Azulia was doing.

Right on cue, a medic walked in, looking around. "Is anyone else injured?" she said. "We'd like to take you all in, actually, just to check for shock."

"Injuries. Right. I've got a cut in my leg, but it was just a glancing blow. I don't think there are any shards in it," Lisbon reported.

"Knocked my head, but that's it," Van Pelt told the medic.

"I'm fine," Cho said.

"I'm a bit singed, but nothing hurts," Rigby said. There was a silent moment, and Lisbon gave Jane a sharp look. He sighed.

"I think I might have a bit of shrapnel in my arms," he said reluctantly, holding them up. His sleeves were ripped and soaked with blood. Lisbon was worried to note that his face was looking pale, and his lips and eyes were thin slits against the pain.

"Oh, wow. How did we miss that?" the medic said, looking bemused.

"They aren't that bad," he said, downplaying as usual. "I wanted you to focus on the girl, and not get all in a tizzy over this."

She gave Jane a skeptical look. "Can we get a stretcher in here?" the medic shouted into the hall before Jane could protest.

"Really, that isn't necessary. I can walk," he argued. But the medic shook her head.

"No, I want minimal movement. You're a lucky man to be still conscious at all, so the shrapnel can't have hit any major nerves or arteries. Small pieces, probably. Any shrapnel shifts at all and you might lose your hands," she said forcefully.

"'Lucky,'" he said scornfully, making a face, but allowed them to strap him onto a stretcher. He didn't let them put a neck brace on, though. Lisbon was glad they let the agents walk.

The ambulance ride was horrible. Jane wasn't being cooperative at all- he managed to talk them out of putting any sedatives or pain medication in his veins. He didn't let them do any needles at all.

"I don't want any of the anesthesia," he said in a surprisingly steady voice.

"Jane, really, they aren't going to dig out metal bits with you wide awake," Lisbon said to the uncooperative consultant. "Be reasonable."

"Do you have any allergies we should know about?" the medic asked.

"Tomatoes, and bees," he said, smirking. Lisbon rolled her eyes. "I don't want any anesthesia, though."

"Are you allergic to it?"

"No, but I sometimes get sick from it, and I don't enjoy being loopy."

"You'd be surprised how few people would agree with you," she said, as they pulled into the hospital.

Once they'd rushed Jane off (with him telling them that he would prefer if the wouldn't run, saying it made him feel like he was fatally wounded, when he clearly wasn't,) a nurse put each of the agents in a separate room.

A doctor cut off the leg of Lisbon's pants to observe the injury. It was a slice through the side of her lower thigh, just above her knee, about a quarter of an inch deep. Like she'd said, it wasn't anything major. It made her relieved that she'd been so devoted to training- she'd been taught how to handle situations like the previous one with minimal wounds. The doctor did a quick x-ray to make sure there wasn't any shrapnel in the cut (there wasn't) before slathering it with antibacterial gunk.

"It's good you reacted the way you did, otherwise you could look like a pincushion right now," the doctor said kindly. _Or like Azulia,_ she silently amended. "It doesn't _need_ stitches, but it would heal much faster if we did stitch it up. You wouldn't be able to walk on it for a few days, though."

"No, I need to be able to walk. Don't stitch it," she told him. He nodded, and carefully pinched the skin together, applying a different, chemically-sweet smelling paste, and then laying a strip of gauze over it. He taped the rest, and offered her a pair of scrub pants, but she declined. The others had been allowed to leave after a much shorter visit than hers, and she'd asked Van Pelt to stop at her house and grab her a new pair of pants, knowing they would probably cut hers.

Cho had thoughtfully suggested he could go to Jane's house and get him a new shirt, but she told him not to. She knew Jane would never want Cho, or any of the other agents for that matter, walking around in his empty, ghostly house without his permission. She hadn't seen his injuries very clearly, but from the amount of blood, predicted that he would be staying the night.

Lisbon returned to the waiting room to find Van Pelt (a small ice pack held to her forehead where she'd knocked it) sitting very close to Rigby, her head on his shoulder. Cho was talking on his cell phone to Mr. Minelli, telling him about the incident.

"The doctors say we can't go see Azulia or Jane," Rigby told her. "Jane just got out of surgery a minute ago, and Azulia is still in."

"What are they like?" she asked hesitantly, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Jane is fine. They said the injuries weren't as bad as they'd thought- there was a lot of small bits of shrapnel that had just given him a lot of small scratches. They'll come get us when he wakes up." Rigby paused, biting his lip. Cho sensed the tension and told Mr. Minelli he'd talk to him later, then hung up.

"And… Azulia?" Lisbon asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach at the foreboding silence.

"She's still in critical condition, but it's likely she'll pull through. The majority missed her spine, but a piece punctured a lung. She got two broken ribs and a small fracture on one shoulder blade. They said it would likely be another hour before she gets out of surgery. She lost a lot of blood, too, so they did a few transfusions," Cho informed her solemnly. She dropped down into a chair wearily and closed her eyes, wishing she could sleep but knowing she was far too stressed to do anything of the sort. She wanted to forget about the entire incident for a moment, just long enough to fall asleep. But she couldn't.

She forced herself to think about the case, carefully map out all of the files, reports, and forms that would need to be completed. Every time she allowed her mind to wander, she saw Jane's pale, sad, scared face as he watched Azulia be rushed away, or Azulia's mutilated back, rivulets of blood soaking her shirt. She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that Azulia was in a room nearby, surrounded by a frenzy of doctors struggling to keep her alive.

And that stupid hospital smell was driving her nuts.


	13. Internal Injuries

_Words left bedraggled in the sound's wake  
Expose the pulsing tone as a fake  
We know what we feel we can no longer take  
Give in, surrender to Silence_

**Thanks to: ..x., Sophie Fatale, GSRFanatic123, langfieldl, Ebony10, B0N3S-FR3AK, piratejester, piratejester, .x., DD2**

**Sorry for the late-ish update. I wanted to update last night, but the day got away from me. I've got midterms this week, so posting might be scrappish, but from what I've heard, it's midterms for a ton of people, so I won't be missed too much. Hopefully.**

**Let the story commence!**

Third Person (Omniscient)

An hour later, things hadn't gotten much better. A nurse had come in about ten minutes earlier.

"Azulia has just finished surgery. They're pretty sure she'll be fine, but things can change in an instant. They got most of the shrapnel out- there was one or two pieces that they couldn't get out. However, they aren't damaging, and they'll never do anything worse than throb occasionally. Meaning it might hurt once or twice every few months," the nurse had informed them. They all relaxed, and Van Pelt even hugged Rigby, burying her face in his neck. He looked surprised, but hugged her back.

Then, finally, finally, _finally_, they were allowed to see Jane. He'd just woken up, and a nurse was checking his bandages, rubbing the glands under his chin and shining a light in each eye when they walked in.

"Hi there!" Jane said, a mess of sunshine and snooze-meds. He broke into a wide grin, and Lisbon couldn't help but grin back. He looked silly, wearing the pale green scrub shirt, hair tousled and a mess, and eyes slightly unfocused.

"Jane! How are you doing?" she asked, walking over to examine his heavily bandaged arms. They were swathed in white.

"Great. I wish hospitals would invest in candles, or air fresheners, or something. They've got the money to do it," he said, wrinkling his nose. Lisbon laughed.

"I know what you mean. This smell is driving me crazy. Did your surgery go okay?"

"Yeah, it was fine, I think."

"You were snoring the whole time, you wouldn't know," the nurse teased. Lisbon would've been a bit upset with the nurse's flirting if she wasn't so relieved. He winked at the nurse.

"Well, it must've been fine, else I wouldn't be sitting here talking," he said. She laughed, and Lisbon got over her initial relief enough to feel a bit irritated. The nurse had one of those annoying, high-pitched laughs.

"Could we have a bit of privacy with our consultant?" she asked the nurse, keeping her tone carefully light and kind. The nurse nodded, and with a last smile at Jane, she left. He slumped back into his pillows when she left.

"Thank you. Her laugh was annoying, and she dyed her hair far too blonde, to the point of hurting my eyes. She shouldn't be flirting, either. She's engaged, and if she doesn't like him, then she should just end it," he said.

"You just woke up from emergency surgery, and you're already scrutinizing your nurse? How did you know?" Lisbon said incredulously.

"Her eyebrows weren't blond, they were dirty blonde. And she was wearing an engagement ring, but on the wrong hand, and she was going over the top, acting like that. A woman who loves her husband-to-be doesn't do that, and she would treasure her ring enough to wear it on the correct hand, at least," he explained, experimentally flexing his hand sand moving his arms, wincing slightly. "I don't understand why some girls act so stupid when they're so smart."

"How do you know she's smart? She might just be a bubblehead," Lisbon argued, just for the sake of arguing with him.

"A bubblehead would have a hard time getting through medical school and becoming a nurse." He shook his head in disgust. "And dying her hair blonde- I'm normally fine with the blonde-idiot idea, because I'm clearly not an idiot and I'm blonde, but when girls try to look like they're stupid by dying their hair blonde…" he made a face. "Have you told Mr. Minelli about the accident yet?"

"Yes. He sends his regards," Cho said. "And he was anxious to hear everything behind it."

"I'd like to hear all of it, too," Van Pelt said. Jane smiled, clearly enjoying how much they relied on him and looked to him.

"I already said most of it. The obvious, anyway," he said smugly. "Rhea took everything from Eliza, and she was the one who brought her up in the first place. Eliza loved Chris, but Chris picked Rhea, and she got upset. Then, to make things worse, Rhea saw Eliza stealing money from the yearbook account."

"Yes, but the others had motives, too. Chris could've loved Eliza more, and wanted to get Rhea out of the way, or he might've done it to make Eliza happy. And Scotty was clearly a druggie, and probably has done things like that before," Lisbon pointed out. Jane shook his head.

"Chris loved Rhea. He wasn't lying when he said he didn't do it. And Scotty doesn't have any money- he would've left a ransom or something. Killed someone with money he could've taken. He isn't a runner, either, so he couldn't have outrun you. He didn't know where Rhea was supposed to be that night, either."

"And Eliza did?"

His glacier eyes crinkled, and his smile morphed into his peculiar proud-five-year-old expression. "Jay said a key had gone missing, and Eliza had already proved she could get into Rhea's locker before, when she left the notes. She probably opened it, with the intention of finding out some dirty secret, saw the shirt and was caught up in her rage about loosing Chris all over again, and then saw a note. The note about the date wasn't in with the rest of the notes.

"It was the handshake that was the confirmation. Scotty's hands were too shaky to do such neat knife work. He's more of a gun person. Chris's hands wouldn't have gripped a knife so well at all. Even when he wasn't nervous, his hands were sweaty. Eliza's were perfect for knife fighting. Short fingernails, which would've been short for a reason, because everyone knows girls are supposed to have long nails. She had dry hands with a good grip."

It was silent for a moment as Lisbon digested it. He was right- Eliza fit the bill more than the others.

Finally, Cho stood up and stretched. "I don't know about you guys, but I need some sleep. It's been a stressful day," he announced. Van Pelt and Rigby got up, too.

"Good job, man. See you tomorrow," Rigby said to Jane, nodding goodbye. Van Pelt gave him a smile, and the beeping machines an anxious glance before she followed him out.

"Good luck with that nurse," Cho said, grinning as he left. Lisbon started to go, too.

"Wait. Are you just going to leave me wondering about how Azulia is?" Jane said quickly. His mask was up again, carefully aloof but still curious. Lisbon could see that he was honestly worried, and he'd wanted to hear how she was the entire time.

"Well… the doctors say she should be okay, but she's got to make it through the night before she's safe for sure. There wasn't any burning or anything, so the bomb must've been designed for deadly shrapnel, not for a huge explosion. The shrapnel mostly missed the spine…" she trailed off, staring at the floor, crossing her fingers and then uncrossing them, feeling stupid for being superstitious.

"And…?" Jane prodded, his eyes intense as he waited impatiently for her to finish.

"A lung got punctured, two ribs broken, and a fractured shoulder blade. That's not counting all the scratches, cuts, and injuries that weren't as destructive," she said too fast. "She lost a ton of blood- they had to do a couple blood transfusions."

Jane sunk back into the pillows sadly, closing his eyes.

"Jane…" Lisbon said softly, approaching the bed and watching him with worry.

"It's my fault she got hurt. I knew she had something else planned. She wasn't stupid- her plan was quite flawed. She would've gotten caught even if I'd been killed, so she needed a backup plan, a way to keep herself from going to Juvey and to eliminate anything that could be traced.

"I could've just let you escort Eliza away, but I kept her there, mocked her. If I wouldn't have mocked Red John in the first place, she wouldn't have been able to do anything. None of this would've happened. Azulia would be laughing at how clever we were, catching Eliza. I would be home with my wife and my daughter instead of here… I'm a horrible person Lisbon."

His shoulders shook, and tears slid down his face. "My fault," he choked, pressing his hands against his face, mindless of the bandages and the injuries.

Lisbon carefully sat down on the side of the bed, gently pulling his hands away from his face and wiping the tears away. Her heart ached to see him in such a state. She struggled to come up with something comforting to say.

"I'm glad you're here, Patrick. Good things came out of it, too," she said quietly. Her hand lingered on his face. Her movement changed from softly wiping the salty water leaking from his eyes to a tender caress. He smiled slightly and closed his eyes, holding her hand to his face.

"Mmmm," he sighed. "Thank you. That feels very nice." He couldn't help but reach out and touch her face. She leaned into his hand, and he slowly guided her face to his until their lips brushed.

He kissed her delicately and chastely, a shorter, lighter kiss than their first, but longer and imbued with hope rather than parting gifts, like their second. It seemed more intimate, less lust and more love, more kindness.

She was struck, once again, by the raw perfection that was Patrick Jane. He always seemed to know everything, never did anything wrong… he even had a perfect kiss! She smelled (and tasted) traces of cologne, light and sweet, just like him. Sunshine, cheer, golden happiness, with an almost undetectable sharp layer.

He'd never thought of her as a kissing, hugging, touching kind of woman. She'd always been that silver statue behind the glass- beautiful, commanding, but distant and untouchable. Suddenly she was a living, breathing woman, come alive beneath his lips, no longer separated by a clear, icy wall. Her scent was surprisingly cozy - honey, walnuts, and faint coconut. It rushed under his skin and set fire to his sinuses, fizzing and sparking behind his face.

It was unlike any kiss he'd ever had (except for his wife's kisses)- it wasn't stolen, or given. It was shared, and left him with a tender smoldering feeling instead of a cold desire for more.

As they parted, he stared into her eyes, a caring, longing look in his blue gaze. They exchanged a special smile.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Jane," she said, getting up reluctantly and getting her coat from a chair.

"It's Patrick, not Jane," he laughed, a bit giddy. "Goodnight, Teresa," he called as she closed the door behind her. A warm glow seemed to remain from the kiss, and she felt unconquerable.

Until she pushed through the doors at the end of the hall, realizing she'd glimpsed gold-red hair out of the corner of her eye in one of the rooms.

**Voila! I run off reviews and popcorn! –munches popcorn-**


	14. More Tricks

Van Pelt

She'd known Rigby liked her for quite some time. Aside from the time Jane told her that Rigby was going to ask her on a date in the restaurant, Rigby had kept mostly quiet about it, pretending he didn't have any feelings for her. Then he'd admitted to it when on pain medication after being burned, and Van Pelt was relieved he didn't remember it.

She wasn't sure how to feel about it, really. She liked him, but she didn't know if she _like_ liked him. It was going too fast for her to make anything out of it. But in the hospital, sitting there, wondering if the two cleverest people she knew were going to be okay, Rigby had done something she didn't think he was sensitive enough to do.

He put one hand on each shoulder, looked her in the eyes, and said softly, "Everything is going to work out okay." His eyes were so confident, so sure, that she nearly dissolved into tears of relief. There wasn't any doubting what he said, regardless of what any nurses told her. It would work out.

She'd closed the gap and hugged him, realizing that she _did_ like him. Sure, he was harebrained sometimes, but he was funny, strong, and knew when humor was needed and when compassion was better. He was the guy she'd romanticized about through high school and college.

Later, when she'd recovered from her weak moment enough for him to feel like he wasn't taking advantage of her in a vulnerable state, he'd asked if she would like to go out sometime. She agreed enthusiastically.

"But not today, and probably not tomorrow," he added. "It's probably going to be busy at the office, with two major injuries and the whole case coming." Van Pelt nodded.

"I know what you mean. Right now isn't really the time to start something," she said with a small, sad smile. He smiled back, still looking slightly bemused and awed that she was really paying attention to him.

"Later, though, right?" he said brightly.

"Sure. We'll have dinner somewhere. Start out slow," she suggested.

"Sounds good."

Third Person (Omniscient)

Lisbon met the others in the CBI office the next morning. She was putting a few files back in the filing cabinet, crouched under one open drawer and leaning over another.

"Hey Lisbon," a quiet voice said, startling her. A crash resounded through the room as the top of her head smashed into the drawer above, and her breath hissed out in pain. Two people laughed as she straightened up, rubbing her head, and turned around, blinking like an owl.

"Ja-!" She stopped and made an exasperated noise. Cho was standing in the doorway, laughing. He was holding his cell phone up.

"Are you alright?" Jane's voice said. Cho laughed.

"She's fine. She knocked her head on the file cabinet," he said. Jane laughed again.

"You're jumpy this morning," his voice commented.

"You weren't here to bring me coffee, so I wasn't very awake. I'm jumpy when I'm tired, but I'm wide awake now," she grumbled.

"I'm on speakerphone," he explained.

"Obviously," she said, pressing a hand to her head experimentally, wincing slightly.

"You didn't think I'd miss work, did you?" She could practically hear him smiling.

"I should've known you'd pull something like this. Didn't want to miss a chat with your good friend, Mr. Minelli. He's coming in a couple minutes for the whole story," Lisbon said, closing the filing cabinet and sitting down.

"I know," Jane said smugly. "Just for the record, this is the first time I've been on time. Actually, I think we're a bit early."

"A phone doesn't count," she smirked. Van Pelt walked in, and Rigby followed a minute or so later. Neither of them seemed surprised about Jane wanting to 'be there' when they told Mr. Minelli the whole story.

"How are we supposed to tell him that you went into a room with a huge audience, knowing perfectly well that someone was going to try to kill you?" Lisbon asked the phone, feeling a bit stupid for talking to a non-living object like he was right there.

"I'll tell him. No problem. I'm not planning on taking anything up with the office," Jane replied coolly. "He should be coming in soon. Hide the phone and make like I'm not listening in."

"No. He'll find out," Van Pelt said, rolling her eyes.

"He won't," Jane protested.

"Jane, I'm not going to fool my boss. We're already toeing the line with him anyway, from Azulia's need to be the smartest," Lisbon blatantly told him. She heard him sigh.

"Fine. Oh, here comes a nurse. Hold on a moment, and be quiet," Jane said. The agents listened as rustling sounds came from the phone, and they heard a door open.

"Vanessa," Jane greeted. Lisbon's lip curled at the blonde, flirtatious, engaged nurse's name. "How is Azulia?" Her annoying laugh sounded loudly in the phone. Van Pelt raised an eyebrow, looking faintly disgusted.

"Oh, Mr. Jane, you're so sweet. You're more worried about the girl than you are about yourself. You haven't asked a single question about your own substantial injuries," Vanessa said in her fake, high-pitched voice.

"I figured that, if anything vital had been damaged, you would've told me without needing me to ask," Jane said smoothly, his tone kind but not too kind to be encouraging to Vanessa's teasing attitude.

"You're right, of course. So clever," Vanessa sighed.

"So, honestly. How is Azulia?"

"She's surprisingly well, considering all the trauma she's been through. A punctured lung, broken ribs, fractured bones, and major blood loss… she doesn't have a very common blood type, either," Vanessa said. _Of course not,_ Lisbon thought sarcastically. _She puts a definition to uncommon._

"Is she going to be okay? Any lasting injuries?" Jane asked. Anyone who'd spent less time with the ex-psychic wouldn't notice the faint, almost undetectable hint of impatience in his voice, but Lisbon knew him well enough to hear it.

She could practically picture him sitting in his hospital bed, cheery and chipper, but with the slightest crinkle around his eyes, betraying his unhappiness. In her mind's eye, she imagined the shadows under his eyes a bit lessened from a night spent out of his hollow, throbbing house.

"None that the doctors have found. There were three pieces of shrapnel they couldn't get out, for the risk of paralyzing her. All three are quite small, the largest no more than two centimeters, and the doctors made sure they would never shift or move. The worst she'll notice from them is a slight throb once in a very long while and a hassle from metal detectors."

"Excellent. When will she be allowed visitors?" Jane asked eagerly.

"Probably sometime after lunch, but you shouldn't be up and around…" the nurse trailed off, and a few miles away, the agents smiled, imagining the look Jane was giving her. "It probably wouldn't hinder the healing process, though," she amended. "You can go see her around one."

"Thank you. When's breakfast, then?"

"Breakfast? You've got an IV."

"And IV doesn't keep me from being famished," Jane said, amused.

"You probably shouldn't have any solid food yet."

"Honestly, you'd think I almost died. It's just a few scratches on my arms."

"I'm just repeating the doctor's instructions." There was a short pause. A slight snapping sound, like something being uncapped.

"My arms feel fine. I don't need any of that," Jane said sharply. Cho and Lisbon exchanged a glance- the nurse was probably trying to give him some sort of injection.

"I'm not going to need to inject you again. I can just put it into your drip," Vanessa said, trying to stay light and happy, but clearly a bit taken aback at Jane's sudden tone.

"I suppose you can do that, then. It won't have any effect- I pulled the drip out an hour ago," Jane informed her, a laugh in his voice. Rigby laughed, and the other agents shushed him.

"Mr. Jane! You're not being a very good patient." There was the sound of more clicking and snapping, something being re-attached, then a rustling sound as Jane moved his arm away from the nurse's hands.

"I'm doing fine without that, and I swear I won't take it up with the hospital if something bad happens," Jane argued. "_I don't need anything_. Though, some toast or a bagel would be appreciated." He paused, and there was more rustling. "I'm not going to let you put that in me."

"Mr. Jane, you really shouldn't do this."

"I don't want a drip, and I don't need a drip. It's a waste of the hospital's resources. Save it for someone else who needs it and will thank you for it, because I won't." Vanessa sighed, and the wheels on the drip's stand squeaked as she rolled it to the door.

"Fine. If it starts to hurt at all, or if anything feels wrong, then push the button and I'll come running," she said.

"Don't worry. By the way, do you know when I'll be allowed to leave?" Jane called after her.

"Tonight, if all goes well. You're not improving your chances by refusing the drip."

"I know. But I don't operate on chances. I'm going to be fine, and we both know it."

"Speak for yourself. Don't be afraid to push the button for help." And, with that, the door finally closed. Jane let out a faintly annoyed breath.

"I hate hospitals. Did you get everything?" Jane said into the phone, leaning back and closing his eyes to listen, think, and relax.

"Yes," Lisbon said.

"Jane, you really shouldn't be messing around with the hospital care. They've got medical degrees, and you don't," Cho said over Lisbon's voice.

"But I've got amazing intuition and I'm the one in my body, not them. I don't care how many degrees they have, they don't know whether I'm in pain or not, or what feels wrong and what feels fine," Jane argued.

"Jane, you-"

"Mr. Minelli is there," he interrupted. Lisbon looked up, and, sure enough, her boss was striding down the hall, a coffee in one hand and a briefcase in the other.

"How did you… never mind. I hope you're ready to do some really great tricks," she warned him, assessing the irate look on Mr. Minelli's face.

"For the last time, Lisbon, they aren't-"

"Mr. Minelli, good morning," Lisbon cut him off, standing up to shake her boss's hand. On the phone, in a hospital miles away, Jane laughed and sat up to listen better, opening his eyes.

At almost the same distance away, with two room's difference, a very different pair of eyes opened. Wide, sharp, clever gold-hazel eyes.


	15. Hazel Eyes

**Thanks to: Sophie Fatale, B0N3S-FR3AK, GSRFanatic123, DD2, langfieldl, Shelter of the Pen, piratejester, GSRFanatic123, Ebony10, DD2, Osage, langfieldl, and piratejester.**

**Sorry for not putting anything with the last chapter, and messing it up! XP silly redfeatherz… doing silly things.**

**Special thanks to Shelter of the Pen, now dubbed The Guru of Reviews. Thank you so much! My face hurt from grinning- everyone loves those long, thoughtful reviews. Thanks to everyone else too- most of you have written me a long review at least once!**

**Quote of the day: "Truth be told, I'm lying." –**_**Gives You Hell**_**, by All-American Rejects. **

Third Person (Omniscient)

"One of my employees is in the hospital, along with a young woman in critical condition for taking a blow meant for him," Mr. Minelli said, blunt and to-the-point as usual. "It isn't really a good morning. I'd like to know what exactly occurred."

Cho, who was the best communicator (other than Jane) stepped up. "As you know, Mr. Lee asked us to come give the students a bit of a presentation about what it's like to be an agent for an investigation team," he began. "Jane got up to speak first, and…" he hesitated, unsure of what to tell him.

"Mr. Minelli, this is Jane. I'm on Cho's phone, on speakerphone. I thought it would be better if I was part of this meeting as much as possible," Jane said in the apprehensive silence. Mr. Minelli nodded.

"Good idea, Jane," the boss said, a rare compliment.

"Thank you, sir. As Cho was saying, I got up to speak. I should add that, the other day, I spoke with the prime suspects, Eliza Jones, Scotty Kent, and Chris Brabant. I told them that I knew who it was, and they'd be thrown in Juvey. So, in effect, I knew someone was going to make an attempt on my life."

"It's sad that this doesn't surprise me at all," Mr. Minelli grumbled.

"I got up to talk, and suddenly Azulia dove over the seats in the middle of my talk. Eliza had pricked the students around her with a needle coated in curare, a drug that causes paralysis, derived from rare plants found in tropical jungles."

"Who gave her that?" Mr. Minelli said, catching on in a moment.

"I'll get to that. So, anyway, Eliza had-"

"Jane," Mr. Minelli growled warningly. However, Jane continued as if he hadn't spoken. Lisbon knew he was probably smiling, enjoying keeping his higher-ups in suspense.

"-paralyzed the students around her, so they wouldn't be able to stop her. It was a good thing Azulia sat where she did- close enough to see, but not close enough that she would be pricked with the curare. Eliza had a gun hidden in her jacket, complete with a state-of-the-art silencer, made no sound at all. Nobody knew what was happening- they just knew Azulia had jumped on Eliza." He stopped talking suddenly. There was the sound of a door opening.

"I hope that's for me. I'm starving," Jane said.

"Your doctor says that if you want to try eating, then you can go ahead. But don't forget about the call-nurse button if it doesn't settle," Vanessa's voice said.

"Thank you," Jane told the nurse. "Cho, continue from there. I'll call back in a minute," he said into the phone. It clicked as he hung up.

Cho swallowed, a bit taken aback, but did as Jane told him. "Eliza was trying to shoot Azulia, but she managed to keep her from pointing the gun at her. By then, everyone saw the gun and started to panic. We tried to get through the writhing mass of teenagers (honestly, you'd be surprised how hard it is,) and by the time we did, Azulia had taken some hard hits, but kicked the gun away. Rigby-"

His phone rang, interrupting him, and he flipped it open, relieved.

"Jane?"

"Okay, I've got it from here. Thank you. After the fight, correct?" Jane said happily. Cho didn't bother to ask how he knew where they were. He was Patrick Jane- he just knew those things.

Jane described the moment when Eliza revealed the bomb, when everything suddenly spun out of control.

"There was only Cho, Van Pelt, Rigby, Lisbon, Azulia and I left in the auditorium with Eliza. Cho, Van Pelt, Rigby, and Lisbon had bulletproof vests and training. They knew what to do. Even if the bomb had been designed for a huge explosion rather than deadly shrapnel, they probably would've made it out fine. Azulia and I had no protection, except for each other."

There was a short pause. Jane's voice became slightly shaky, but Lisbon knew he was probably jut playing up on theatrics again.

"I… I am not trained to handle situations like that. I'm just the consultant. I froze up, but Azulia… she kept her head. She knew that, if both of us just stood there, we would both die. So she jumped on me, knocking both of us to the ground. She was a second too late, though. The shrapnel got her back and my arms. We're both going to be fine, though," he reassured Mr. Minelli. The room rang with silence as Lisbon's boss mulled it over.

"Are you planning on taking this up with the CBI?" he finally asked.

"No, of course not," Jane said with a light laugh.

"What about the girl? Ah-Something-ah?"

"Azulia," Jane corrected him. "I don't think so. Nobody has been allowed to see her yet. The damage looked bad- a punctured lung, broken ribs, a fractured shoulder blade, and a critical amount of blood loss. The doctors are going to allow visitors after lunch."

"Good. Talk to her then, ask what she's doing now, if she's going home, or back to school, or what. Tie up the ends of this case- you know the procedure. Eliza is dead, right?"

"Yessir," Cho answered, already grabbing a stack of papers from his desk and passing them to Mr. Minelli.

"Okay. Case closed, and all that." He stood up to leave, but paused. "Jane, you never told me who gave Eliza the curare, silencer, or bomb equipment."

"Oh. Sorry, I thought I'd already said."

"You didn't. Who was it?"

"You really need me to tell you?" Mr. Minelli's face flushed, and he opened his mouth hotly, but Jane continued. "It was Red John. Who else?"

His face contorted. "Of course. That filthy, crazy, death-wish psycho. We'll get him eventually."

Jane smirked, eyes alight with a terrible excitement. Lisbon was glad he wasn't there in person- she knew him well enough to know he would be wearing that harsh eagerness. "I hope so. May that day come soon," he said in a low voice

"I'll sleep better when he's off the streets."

"I'm sure I will too," the ex-psychic said. Something about the peculiar, dangerous, confident undertone of his voice made Mr. Minelli's neck hairs stand up.

"Right. Well, you guys get on that." He got up and left, already shuffling through the papers.

"Well, there's that, sorted out," Jane said happily as soon as he heard the door close. "When are you guys coming?"

"Around twelve. You want us to bring you anything?"

"Bottom left drawer of my desk, there's a black backpack. I've got some spare clothes in it, just in case something like this happened."

Rigby got up and retrieved the small backpack. "Yup, got it. Anything else?"

"No, thank you. Van Pelt, you should probably bring Azulia's things. She's going to be staying here for a while."

"Good idea. She's probably bored out of her mind," Van Pelt said.

"I wouldn't be so sure. She's probably convinced someone to lend her a book or a laptop," Jane told her.

"True. We'll talk to you later."

"Alright. Goodbye." Cho closed his phone, severing the connection, and shook his head.

"Paperwork is going to be boring without him," he commented.

"Yeah, a doughnut-free, indoor, paperwork morning," Rigby groaned. Van Pelt threw a plastic baggie across the room at him, which he barely caught.

"What's this?" he asked, forehead wrinkling.

"Carrot sticks," Van Pelt smirked. Rigby dropped the bag on his desk like it was full of snakes.

"Carrots? Gross!" he said, making a face.

"Grow up, Rigby. You aren't a six-year-old," Van Pelt laughed.

"I wish. I had more fun when I was six. All I did was draw, build with blocks, and eat cookies," he grumbled, reluctantly eating a carrot.

"Bickering won't make this go any faster," Lisbon said, exasperated. "If we want to go see Jane and Azulia, we need to have this done."

"I've already got mine started," Cho bragged. Rigby threw a carrot at him.

"Suck-up," he taunted, digging for a pen. Cho caught the carrot and ate it with a smirk.

Afternoon

The agents walked into Jane's hospital room, led by Lisbon.

"So there was the body, all surrounded by candles and incense. I searched the area, and found some sort of hex mark made out of sticks on the ground by the victim's feet. I knew the witch girl hadn't done it- she would've never made it so blatantly obvious that she'd done it. We talked to-," Jane stopped when Lisbon and the others walked in, and broke into a wide smile.

"Took you long enough to get here," he commented cheerfully. Vanessa, the nurse he was talking to, got up from her seat beside his bed. Lisbon resisted the urge to roll her eyes- of course he would be entertaining the staff with clever tricks and stories.

"I was keeping him company until you came," Vanessa said, smiling. Lisbon noticed her lipstick was far too red for the rest of her face, making her look washed out. "I'll leave you to it, then. 'Bye, Patrick," she crooned, giggling.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Lisbon rolled her eyes, and Jane's smile became a grimace.

"Of all the nurses here…" Lisbon grumbled.

"So, 'Patrick'," Rigby teased, doing a bad imitation of the flirtatious way the nurse said his name. "When's the first date?"

"I don't like hospitals in the first place, so why make it more miserable by ticking my nurse off?" he said reasonably.

"He's got a point. She's in charge of his meals, and needles, and medication," Cho shrugged. Rigby rolled his eyes and tossed the black backpack to Jane, who caught it, then winced involuntarily. Rigby flinched.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot. You okay?" he said apologetically.

"I'm perfectly fine. They're just a bit sore, and the bandages aren't wrapped for the purpose of allowing my arms any sudden movements," he said, smiling again. He pulled off his scrub shirt with a sigh of relief, wadded it up and dropped it on the side table.

Both Lisbon and Van Pelt awkwardly averted their eyes from his bare chest, but Lisbon couldn't help but sneak a few looks at the strong (but not freakishly, bulgingly strong) muscles on his smooth, so-very-touchable looking chest.

Jane pulled out a white button-up shirt and slid it on, careful not to yank on the bandages. He put one of his usual vests on over that, but refrained from putting a jacket on. He hesitated, then pulled the curtains around the bed while he finished changing.

"You haven't been to see Azulia yet," he said from behind the curtains (pale blue-green, like everything else). It wasn't really a question.

"No, we figured you'd want to come," Lisbon said, absentmindedly inspecting a strange-looking doctor's tool on the counter. "What's this?" she asked Cho.

He shrugged. "Looks like a tourniquet. I'm not really sure. Do you know anything about how she's doing?" he said to Jane.

"No, I only know as much as you do. Vanessa didn't know anything," he replied, yanking the curtains back to reveal himself, dressed and looking like he hadn't just been attacked by an insane, suicidal bomber teenage girl. Even his hair looked like it did every other morning at work. He saw Lisbon's surprised look. "They let me shower this morning, before you all showed up. Just because I'm in a hospital doesn't mean I'm helpless, or weak, or dying."

Lisbon couldn't help but laugh. "You're incredible," she said, shaking her head.

"I'm a bit insulted you're only just now acknowledging this," he said with a coy grin, walking to the door. "Let's go, I'm dying of curiosity, and I'm sure she's just as impatient to see us."

They followed him out into the corridor. "Do you know what room she's in?" Van Pelt asked. He didn't stop walking.

"No. Do you?"

"No. How are we supposed to find her, then?"

His response was to open one door and peer in, then closed it. "Nobody in that one."

Van Pelt's eyebrows shot up. "We're just going to barge into each room, looking for her?" Lisbon was torn between being amused, unsurprised, and angry, so she stayed silent, letting Van Pelt be the rain on his parade.

"Yes," he replied, acting as if he didn't understand her surprise, looking into the next room. "Sorry, wrong room," he apologized to someone, closing the door again. "I'm sure she's in this hall, so it won't take too long."

"We can't do that!" she argued as he reached for another doorknob.

"Sorry, wrong room," he said again to the occupant. "Why not?" he asked Van Pelt, shutting the door.

"It's rude, wrong, and intrusive!"

"No it's not. We're not doing anything wrong. We're just visitors, searching for an injured friend because the doctors neglected to tell us which room she's in," he said innocently, the corners of his mouth twitching. "This would go faster if you helped."

"Alright," Rigby shrugged, joining Jane in his random room-searching. Van Pelt's eyebrows met, and she opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. "He's going to do it anyway, so why not speed it up?"

"Ah-ha!" Jane said triumphantly, opening a door wide and beaming. The agents crowded behind him, anxious to see how Azulia was doing.

She was lying down on her bed on her stomach. She'd turned the bed upside-down; her head and pillow was where her feet should be, and her feet were where her head should be. She had scrubs on, but the agents could see the lumpy bandages under the shirt. She was reading a book, and looked up distractedly when they walked in.

Jane's knotted back muscles loosened at the sight of her, resting and reading a book, as if she hadn't just almost died. His breath whooshed out in relief, and he saw Lisbon have a similar reaction. They grinned at each other for an instant, unable to look away from each other's faces, but the moment broke when Rigby excitedly shoved his way past them and into the room.


	16. Happily Ever Leave It At Happily

**I'm so sorry about the long wait! Something was wrong with my account- it wouldn't let me click on the 'My Stories' section under the 'Publish' tab in the Login thing... XP It's been driving me NUTS!!**

**Thanks to: DD2, piratejester, House Calls, Bakerlover, GSRFanatic123, langfieldl, Wizard-in-Disguise, and kathiann.**

**Not sure what to say right now… I'm currently doing a lot of English homework. Yucketh.**

**BTW, I'm finishing the last chapter! I changed it- it's going to be only 18 chapters. Yeah, I'm sorry. But I'm loosing steam here, and I wanted to finish it before I got bored with it and gave up.**

**On the good side, I'm starting another fic. I haven't posted it yet, but it looks to be good. I'm pleased with how it's going so far- I'll probably post the first chapter sometime next week. I like to have at least three chapters done before I start posting.**

**So yeah… here you go!**

"Hello," Azulia said, smiling with faint confusion. "Um… can I help you?" They looked at her, puzzled.

"What? No," Lisbon said, then she shook her head and dismissed it. "Azulia, we've been worried sick about you," she said, her smile slipping a bit.

"Uh… I don't know what you're talking about. Did I know you?" she said, raising an eyebrow. Behind Lisbon, Cho's face went white, and he gasped. Jane's smile slid off his face, replaced by a dejected, disappointed look. In the transition, Lisbon caught a glance of a horrified expression, sickened by what he'd caused.

"Oh no," Cho breathed in shock, his face falling.

"I'm sorry, I guess the doctors didn't tell you. Something messed up when I got hurt, and I don't remember much," she said apologetically. Lisbon blanched as she, Van Pelt, and Rigby suddenly understood.

"Oh my God," Van Pelt whispered, appalled. Rigby looked amazed. Only Jane kept his calm demeanor.

"Azulia? My name is Patrick Jane. Does that sound familiar at all?" he said slowly. She tiled her head slightly, looking thoughtful.

"You're that psychic guy, right? The medium? My sister showed me a video of you once. Is that what you mean?" she asked. She bit her lip when he didn't answer. "Oh, man. There's more, isn't there," she said, more of a statement than a question. He nodded.

"I'm Teresa Lisbon. I work for the CBI. You've been helping us with a case for about a week," Lisbon said, her mind whirling. _How can this be? She doesn't remember anything…_

"I don't remember that. What was the case about?"

"Your sister," Lisbon told her softly. Azulia's expression froze.

"What about my sister?" she said sharply. "What happened?"

Lisbon stayed silent, searching for a way to tell her. _Oh no, she doesn't remember her sister dying! This is going to be so terrible for her!_ "Well… your sister, Rhea…" she trailed off, unsure of what to say.

She was saved from saying anything when Azulia's puzzled expression vanished, replaced by a naughty grin.

"Gotcha!" she cackled. "I don't believe you just believed me, right like that! Ohmygosh, your expressions were excellent!" She struggled to suppress her laughter, but it poured out. A moment later, it shifted to coughing. Cho was at her side in an instant.

"Are you okay?" he said urgently, hand hovering over the call-nurse button. She nodded, managing to stop coughing, and rolled her shoulders uncomfortably.

"Yeah, fine. Don't you dare push that button," she threatened, panting through her teeth with short, quick breaths as she regained control over her pain and her breathing. Her inhalation steadied and returned to normal, just in time for the agents to find their voices.

"I don't- you just-… I… That was a cruel, evil joke!" Rigby stammered, eyes wide. Lisbon started to laugh lightly, relieved that it was only a joke, and realizing that it was, in fact, very funny. Jane smirked.

"You were in on it," she accused the consultant.

"Of course. I saw she was faking the moment we came in," he said smartly. She stared at him disbelievingly, not sure if she should be angry or amazed at his sheer arrogance.

"Is that my stuff?" Azulia said, looking hopefully at the duffel bag hanging from Van Pelt's shoulder.

"No, it's mine. You gave the bag to me. Don't you remember?" Van Pelt said coldly. Azulia sighed.

"Look, I know it was mean, and I apologize. But I'm not sorry, though- it was sooo worth it," she said, giving the agent a guilty smile. Van Pelt rolled her eyes and handed her the duffel bag.

"Thanks. That was smart of you guys."

"So… what really happened?" Cho asked what everyone was thinking. Azulia bit her lip and stared at her hands, folded lightly on her pillow.

"Well… where do you want me to start?" she said slowly. Lisbon's eyes flicked to Jane- his lips were pursed in a combination of worry, dismay, and apprehension.

"Wherever you think would be best," Van Pelt suggested softly. Azulia sighed again, and began struggling to push herself up into a sitting position.

"Hey, should you be doing that?" Cho asked as the teen gritted her teeth, obviously in pain.

Jane wanted to help her up, but he knew she wouldn't appreciate the help. He could imagine what she was thinking. Something along the lines of, _I'm a cross country runner, for goodness sakes! I run over three miles a day, and I can't even sit up on my own?!?_ He didn't dare even show sympathy on his face- she wouldn't like that at all.

_I played soccer with a busted hip! I ran three miles with pneumonia! I can't be struggling to just sit up!_ Azulia was thinking. _Wuss. Wimp. Weak little baby needs someone to hold her. Do you need to be spoon-fed mush next?_ she silently taunted herself. She kept her face carefully relaxed, but couldn't help but grind her teeth, keep the cry of pain caged behind them. Her back burned, and she concentrated on Cho's voice, ignoring the colors exploding behind her eyes as her shredded back sent pings of agony to her brain.

"Probably not," she said tightly, finally getting upright. She folded her legs Indian style and took a moment to recover. _Wimp,_ she told herself again.

"So… back to what happened?" Lisbon prodded gently, aware of how small and fragile she looked, sitting there wrapped up in blankets and bandages, one eye ringed with purple and blue bruises, her hair mussed. It struck her again that she was only fifteen years old, still a girl, and she'd already had a near-death experience while saving someone else's life for the second time in less than an hour.

She was reminded that her sister just died, her parents were never home, and she was taking care of herself. Grown up too fast by forces out of her control. It made Lisbon sad to see innocence and childhood ended so early.

"Right. So I was sitting behind Eliza, diagonally to her. I noticed her pull a little silver thing out of her jacket, and poke the people around her with it. That must've had the curare that you were talking about on it. Then she dug out a gun, and aimed it at you. She pulled the trigger, I think, but I was already over the seats and trying to get it from her."

She continued to describe the fight in great detail, even pantomiming a bit, but she stopped that after she accidentally twisted her back, and hissed in pain.

"What were you thinking after you took the shrapnel?" Jane asked curiously.

"Why?" she said warily, wondering if it was another one of his tricks.

"You were saying something. 'St-,' what was it? 'Stringrah' or something?"

"Oh." Her brow furrowed as she tried to recall what she was thinking about. "Oh!" she laughed, shaking her head. "When I was twelve, my parents took Rhea and I on one of their trips. We got to go snorkeling near the Cayman Islands, and there was a pod of wild stingrays. I got stung by one in the back."

"What happened then?" Cho asked, intrigued.

"I was lucky, I guess. It was a small stingray, and it didn't give me a real sting. It was fighting with another one, and I got too close. It was only about an inch into my back, and it barely missed impaling my stomach. That was the only other time in my life I'd gotten emergency care, not counting now."

"What was the other time?" Rigby questioned. Jane got up and wandered aimlessly around the room, taking in every minute detail almost instinctively. His eyes lingered on a small black box lined with white silk, a small silver card under it.

She shook her head, grinning ruefully. "Something stupid. I was seven, I think. Rhea and I had gone on a fishing trip with a couple of friends. We were racing each other back to the cars, and I tripped. It was a rock path, and I fell on a sharp rock, about yay big," she said, holding her fingers about a half-inch apart. "Went right into my head, here." She pointed to a small scar just above her left eyebrow.

Jane's attention locked onto an instant of light on Azulia's wrist. It was an elegant silver bracelet, made of two silver strands twisted around each other. Miniscule thorns protruded from the vines. The clasp was made of the tips of the vines twisting around of each other, and on the opposite side was two small, delicate rose blossoms. The entire structure had vintage black ink on it, giving in an antique, worn appearance. The rose heads were pure black except for the edges of the petals.

"Where did you get the bracelet?" he asked, breaking into her storytelling. She looked up, surprised.

"What, this?" She held her wrist up, displaying the resplendent, graceful bangle. Van Pelt let out a small gasp, awed by its beauty.

"Oh, wow. That's really… wow," she breathed, getting up to examine it closer.

"Where did you get it?" Jane said again, careful to keep his voice light and harmlessly curious.

"Logan," she admitted, a bashful grin lighting up her face. "His parents are jewelers, and he helped make this. He sent it to me last night. I just got to open it this morning. I was talking to him on the phone before you guys came in- we got school cancelled."

"Whoa," Rigby joked, holding an arm up as if to shield his eyes. "Your happy glow. It's blinding." She smacked him with her pillow, both of them laughing like children. Van Pelt bumped shoulders with him.

"Quit picking on the defenseless," she teased. He bumped her shoulder back a bit too hard. She stumbled and almost careened into the wall before he caught her arm, apologizing until he realized she was laughing.

Azulia watched them with pleased, intelligent eyes, imagining the once thin, feeble, uncertain line thickening, becoming flexible and resilient. She glanced at Lisbon and Jane, knowing that their bond was at the midpoint, where the bridge was built, but it had to be tested first.

It would either explode in their faces or finally adhere into something impervious to everything thrown at it. She told herself that it would connect, it would work out, but there was no way to tell until the moment came.

"May I?" Jane asked, gesturing to the box and the card. She pursed her lips but nodded. He looked at the bottom of the box, recognizing the name of the jeweler engraved in the corner. His attention turned to the card.

_I'm so sorry for everything,_ it read. _Your sister, your parents, and now this. You've got an enormous burden on your shoulders, and, if you will allow it, I'd like to help you carry it. I want to be there for you, be the one who tells you everything is going to be alright, the one who wipes away the tears, who you can confide everything to. _

_I know they say teenage love doesn't last, but this will. I know it. You once told me our futures were tightly twisted together, we were inseparable. I want that. Please remember those words whenever you see this._

_Love (if you want),_

_Logan_

Jane read the card again. And then once more. And a last time. He couldn't keep an I-knew-it look off his face. When he'd seen Azulia's reaction to Logan's very presence, he knew. She'd instantly smiled, really smiled without any other bad emotions blunting it. Even Tyler had caught on to their unbreakable connection.

A corner of his mouth lifted slightly at the irony of it. She could see connections and relationships like no other, but she couldn't see her own.


End file.
